Jean-Marie Cardebat

What explains Bordeaux wine prices

The aim of this article is to explain Bordeaux wine prices for the 1996–1999 vintages. The hedonic price method is applied to determine the main explanatory factors of price differences. It shows that reputation remains an important determinant of the price. However sensory characteristics have greater explanatory power compared to previous studies. Increasing competition and reductions in information asymmetries on the wine market are two important factors explaining this result.

Estimation of a hedonic price equation for Alsace, Beaujolais and Provence wines

The aim of this article is to explain Alsace, Beaujolais and Provence wine prices. The hedonic price method is applied to determine the main explanatory variables factors of price differences. This method indicates that the relationship between quality and price of the Alsace, Beaujolais and Provence wine areas is poor. This result explains, at least partially, the fall from favour of French wines in the eyes of foreign consumers and the resulting crisis in the French wine industry.

The impact of trade on the relative wages and employment of low skill workers in France

The impact of international trade on labour markets in developed countries will be different according to the degree of competition in product markets, the flexibility of the labour market and the skill intensity of production. An econometric analysis of the impact of trade in France has been undertaken using sectoral data for the period 1985–p1992. It is found that lower relative import prices reduce the relative employment of low skill workers in the first half the period and reduce their relative wages in the second half. In both cases the effect is more pronounced in sectors where the skill intensity of production is initially low.

Forecasting Bordeaux wine prices using state-space methods

ABSTRACT Generic Bordeaux red wine (basic claret) can be regarded as being similar to an agricultural commodity. Production volumes are substantial, they are traded at high frequency and the quality of the product is relatively homogeneous. Unlike other commodities and the top-end wines (which represent only 3% of the traded volume), there is no futures market for generic Bordeaux wine. Reliable forecasts of prices can to large extent replace this information deficiency and improve the functioning of the market. We use state-space methods with monthly data to obtain a univariate forecasting model for the average price. The estimates highlight the stochastic trend and the seasonality present in the evolution of the price over the period 1999 to 2016. The model predicts the path of wine prices out of sample reasonably well, suggesting that this approach is useful for making reasonably accurate forecasts of future price movements.