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Abstract
What makes the price of a particular crop of pears and why prices tend to change from
year to year are questions of special concern to growers, processors, and others interested
in the production, marketing, and pricing of pears. The market structure for pears, as
for other fruits, is a complex one, and throughout the marketing season, various forces
exert their influence upon the season average price received by growers. Statistical data
representing all of the price making factors for any particular crop are not available but,
for a large number of agricultural commodities, the size of production and stocks, the
level of national income, and the production of closely competing commodities are usually
of considerable importance. In this study, an attempt has been made to measure the
inguence of these factors on prices of all West Coast pears, all Pacific Coast Bartlett
pears sold for fresh use, Bartletts sold for canning, Pacific Coast pears other than
Bartletts, and pears other than those grown on the Pacific Coast. Although these factors
do not account for all price changes, they do explain a rather considerable amount of
variation in the prices received. It is hoped that measurements of the price making
influence of some of the excluded factors can eventually be made.