An empirical investigation of price-quantity relations of the Quota species of Australia's South East Fishery

An inverse system framework is followed to empirically investigate the price-quantity relations for the quota species of Australia's South East Fishery. The log-linear version is supported by the data, and the system is estimated using the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) technique. In all cases, ownprice flexibility coefficient estimates satisfy the theoretical expectation of the general price-quantity relations and are less than one in absolute value, which indicates inflexibility of real wholesale prices to their corresponding quantities. It is also found that the majority of the quota species may be classified as normal goods, as the price responses with respect to changes in income are positive for those species. The impact of structural change in the fishery, as a result of the introduction of the quota system, on the prices of quota species is also examined, and it is observed that the quota management system has significantly affected the price of a few quota species. Copyright © 2004 Marine Resources Foundation.