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Abstract

This paper presents a dynamic model of a processing cooperative in which patronage refunds are taken into consideration by producers in making marketing decisions and by the cooperative in establishing pricing strategies. An adaptive expectations framework is used to represent the formation of producer expectations of patronage refunds. The model suggests that cooperatives can successfully distribute earnings to producers as patronage refunds while using prices as instruments for achieving and maintaining optimal output levels. This result challenges conventional ideas about cooperative market behavior and implies that public support for cooperatives should be based on empirical analysis rather than theoretical arguments alone.

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