What do economists mean by the law of one price? Why might the law of one price be violated?

What will be an ideal response?


The law of one price says that the price of a good, when denominated in a particular currency, is the same wherever in the world the good is being sold. The law of one price relies on arbitrage in the goods market. If the good is being sold in one place at a low price and is being sold in a different place at a high price, people have an incentive to arbitrage the two markets. Therefore, anything that makes it difficult or costly to arbitrage in the goods market can create a deviation from the law of one price. Clearly, transaction costs, such as the costs of shipping, generate deviations from the law of one price that cannot be arbitraged. Tariffs and quotas on imports and exports also create deviations. If markets are not competitive and firms have some monopoly power, the corporation may decide to charge different prices in different countries, but it must be able to segment the markets to prevent arbitrage. If arbitrage cannot be done instantaneously, there will be a speculative element that enters the calculations and the speculator may have to be compensated for the risk of loss with an expected profit from buying in one market and selling in another market at a later point in time. Finally, various goods markets are subject to a certain amount of price stickiness because of the costs of changing prices. Because exchange rates are asset prices and freely flexible, unanticipated changes in exchange rates will create deviations from the law of one price if goods prices are sticky.

Business

You might also like to view...

A company with a simple capital structure is required to report both basic and diluted earnings per share

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Business

The formula for the variance of the duration of an activity is ______.

a. the square root of [1/6(b – a)] b. [1/6(a – b)] raised to the power of 2 c. [1/6(b – a)] raised to the power of 2 d. the square root of [1/6(a – b)]

Business

While standards can adjust at any time, what credit score has historically been considered the best for most people?

A) 760 B) 1,000 C) 100 D) 300 E) 900

Business

Bob and Paige are married and live in a common law state. Bob owns some real estate (fair market value of $560,000) which they would like to give to their five adult married children. The spouses of their children (e.g., son-in-law, daughter-in-law) are

to be included in the gifts. Bob and Paige do not want to use any of their unified transfer tax credit. Assuming an annual exclusion for the Federal gift tax of $14,000, suggest a viable way to structure the transfer.

Business