Purchasing power

About: Purchasing power is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2714 publications have been published within this topic receiving 36866 citations. The topic is also known as: adjusted for inflation.

Spatial Price Differences in China: Estimates and Implications

Abstract: Prices differ across space: from province to province, from rural (or urban) areas in one province to rural (or urban) areas in another province, and from rural to urban areas within one province. Systematic differences in prices across a range of goods and services in different localities imply regional differences in the costs of living. If high-income provinces also have high costs of living, and low-income provinces have low costs of living, the use of nominal income measures in explaining such economic outcomes as inequality can lead to misinterpretations. Income should be adjusted for costs of living. We are interested in the sign and magnitude of the adjustments needed, their changes over time, and their impact on economic outcomes in China. In this article, we construct a set of (rural, urban, total) provincial-level spatial price deflators for the years 1984-2002 that can be used to obtain provincial-level income measures adjusted for purchasing power. We provide illustrations of the significant effect of ignoring spatial price differences in the analysis of China's economy.

What drives FDI in Central–Eastern Europe? Evidence from the IWH-FDI-Micro database

Abstract: The focus of this article is on the match between strategic motives of foreign investors in Central–Eastern Europe and locational advantages offered by these countries Our analysis makes use of the IWH-FDI-Micro database, a unique dataset that contains information from 2009 about the determinants of locational factors, technological activity of subsidiaries and potential for knowledge spillovers in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia The analysis suggests that investors in these countries are mainly interested in low (unit) labour costs coupled with a well-trained and educated workforce and an expanding market with high growth rates in the purchasing power of potential buyers It also suggests that the financial crisis reduced the attractiveness of the region as a source for localised knowledge and technology There appears to be a match between investors' expectations and the quantitative supply of unqualified labour, though not for the supply of medium qualified workers The anal

Understanding the linkages between migration and household food security in India

Abstract: This paper argues for the need to integrate migration in future food policy research and practice and, in doing so, examines the role of internal migration as a livelihood strategy in influencing food security among rural households. Migration has become a key component of livelihood strategies for an increasing number of rural households across the developing world. Importantly, there is emerging consensus among academics and policy makers on migration's potentially positive effects in reducing poverty and promoting sustainable human development. Concurrently, the significance of the catch-cry ‘food security for all’ as an important development objective has been growing, particularly since the 2007–08 global food crisis. However, academic and policy discussions on these two issues have tended to proceed largely in silos, with little attention devoted to the relationship they bear with each other. Using primary survey data collected from 392 rural households from a district in western Bihar in India, this paper seeks to fill this gap in relational dynamics. It first reviews plausible reasons for this disconnect between migration and food security in the wider developing countries' context, and then draws on a primary survey of rural Indian households to provide empirical household-level insights on the linkages between people's movements and households' capacity to secure food. In particular, the paper focuses on the often-overlooked role of migrants' remittances for food security of rural households at points of origin. The findings show that, by equipping households with improved purchasing power and enabling investment in agriculture, remittances contribute positively to household food security.

Environmentally preferable purchasing: Who is doing what in the united states?

Abstract: In recent years, concerns over environmental degradation and environmental sustainability have pushed governments to search for new ways to combat environmental problems. One such approach, which is gaining in popularity, is environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP). EPP attempts to address environmental challenges by taking advantage of government's vast purchasing power to create strong markets for environmentally friendly products and services. This article reviews governments’ experience with EPP in the United States. Specifically, the article describes the development of EPP in the federal government and reviews EPP activities at both the national and subnational levels. Next, the article presents several broad strategies that governments and procurement professionals can pursue in implementing EPP. The article concludes by identifying several challenges facing EPP.

Search, Bargaining, Money, and Prices Under Private Information

Abstract: This paper presents a model of money and search where bargaining determines prices and the quality of goods is private information. It studies how a lemons problem affects the purchasing power of money. There are multiple, Pareto-ranked equilibria. The superior equilibrium, where no lemons are produced, exists even if information about quality is relatively scarce. In other equilibria, there is price dispersion, and uninformed buyers pay higher prices than informed buyers for all goods. Taxing money balances (a proxy for inflation) makes buyers less selective, thus reducing the average quality of supply and the premium paid for known quality.