EXPERIMENTAL SIMULATION OF PUBLIC INFORMATION IMPACTS ON PRICE DISCOVERY AND MARKETING EFFICIENCY IN THE FED CATTLE MARKET

Federal budgetary pressures raise questions regarding the importance o f public market information. This study assesses the impact on price d iscovery and production efficiency of reducing public price and quanti ty information. The amount and type of information provided to Fed Cat tle Market Simulator (FCMS) participants was varied by periodically wi thholding current and weekly summary information according to a predet ermined experimental design. Results show that reducing information in creased price variance and decreased marketing efficiency; that is, mo re cattle were delivered at weights deviating from 1,150 pounds-the le ast-cost marketing weight in the simulator. These factors, which incre ase costs, make the industry less competitive.