THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE GEOGRAPHIC MARKET FOR HOGS IN THE UNITED-STATES

This paper looks at the question of whether hogs sold at different locations in the United States are part of a single geographic market covering the entire country. An answer to this question is sought using an approach to defining a geographic market based on the notion of instantaneous causality. The empirical results, based on prices for hogs at sixteen different locations over the period October 1989 to May 1992, suggest that there was but a single identifiable geographic market covering the entire United States. The implications of this finding are explored.