SINGLE DESK SELLING BY THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD - DOES IT HAVE AN IMPACT

摘要

The Canadian Wheat Board justifies its monopoly control over the marketing of barley on the basis of single desk selling. It argues that single desk selling raises the pooled price that farmers receive for their barley over a situation where the Canadian Wheat Board does nor have monopoly control over the marketing of prairie barley. Carter (1993b) argues that the Canadian Wheat Board's pricing strategies are suboptimal and the Canadian Board cannot affect prices farmers receive. This paper tests the implications of the Canadian Wheat Board's conclusions and Carter's conclusions using feedgrain prices. The results indicate that Canadian Wheat Board single desk selling has no impact on prices. These results indicate that Carter's analysis is more consistent with the data than is the Canadian Wheat Board's analysis.