Objective: There is a large theoretical literature regarding stock market manipulation. However, empirical evidence of manipulation remains scare especially in emerging markets like Iran. So, it is vital to detect and prevent. Manipulation distorts prices, thereby reducing market efficiency and harms public confidence. Distorted prices increase market volatility and risk. This study empirically...

In theory, concepts of market efficiency are conveniently ordered: "Strong form" efficiency implies prices reflect all public and private information, "semi-strong form" implies they reflect only public information and "weak form" implies they reflect only past prices. Assumptions about individual trader rationality, no arbitrage and the law of one price underlie each. Here, we study this order...

Virtual bids were introduced in U.S. wholesale electricity markets to exploit arbitrage opportunities arising from expected price differences between day-ahead and real-time energy markets. These financial instruments have interactions with other elements of the electricity market design. For instance, virtual bids could affect day-ahead market-clearing prices so as to enhance the value of Fina...

I discuss the short-run dynamics of commodity prices, production, and inventories, as well as the sources and effects of market volatility. I explain how prices, rates of production, and inventory levels are interrelated, and are determined via equilibrium in two interconnected markets: a cash market for spot purchases and sales of the commodity, and a market for storage. I show how equilibrium...

Forest-land managers use price data and market analysis to form expectations and make informed management decisions. There is an abundance of price data for sawtimber, but for nonsawtimber, the availability of price data is limited. This constrains the ability of forest-land managers to form reasonable price expectations for stands that contain both sawtimber and nonsawtimber. In this paper, I ...

I propose a stylized model of the house-selling process in which sellers possess incomplete information regarding the state of the housing market. Consistent with the data, the model generates a negative correlation between house prices and time on market. This result is robust to the presence of real estate agents with complete information. I construct a measure of homeowner perceptions of hou...

We employ laboratory methods to study stability of competitive equilibrium in Scarf’s economy (International Economic Review, 1960). Tatonnement theory predicts that prices are globally unstable for this economy, i.e. unless prices start at the competitive equilibrium they oscillate without converging. Anderson et al. (Journal of Economic Theory, 2004) report that in laboratory double auction m...

Subsistence farmers may not respond to market incentives if their resource allocation decisions are based on shadow prices. This may lead to “puzzling” results from an economic point of view if shadow prices are not taken into account. Subsistence maize farmers in rural Mexico are an example with their non-response to decreasing maize prices after NAFTA. I analyze the true value measure of maiz...

Timber stumpage prices exhibit considerable volatility, which has a tremendous effect on the long-term returns associated with growing timber. Predicting trends in the market occupies a great deal of effort in forest economics research and practice. But what are the possible gains from having the ability to predict the future of timber stumpage markets? On the stand-level, forward-recursive dyn...

Recent supply shocks in the Gulf of Mexico—including hurricanes, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the seasonal appearance of a large dead zone of low oxygen water (hypoxia)—have raised concerns about the economic viability of the U.S. shrimp fishery. The ability for U.S. shrimpers to mediate supply shocks through increased prices hinges on the degree of market integration, both among shrimp...