remains more or less in line from year to year as 

 exemplified by the retail price series offish products 

 in New York and Chicago. Individual prices are 

 marked by irregularity in their occurrence ; but regu- 

 larity of arrangement appears when many individual 

 prices are brought together. Randomness brings 

 about orderliness in mass behavior. Given the large 

 number of products to be priced and the large 

 number of factors to be considered by different 

 stores, there is bound to be a considerable amount of 

 unexplained variations. But equal forces indepen- 

 dent of each other working in different directions 

 tend to generate values toward the mean (Mills, 

 1955). 



THE FISHERMAN'S SHARE 

 Variation Among Finfish Product Groups 



The fisherman's share^ in the retail market var'es 

 considerably depending on the products. It averaged 

 about 41.2% for fresh groundfish fillets, 23.4% for 

 frozen ocean perch fillets, 34.0% for fresh salmon 

 steaks, 42.3% for halibut steaks, 25.7% for canned 

 salmon, and 40.1% for canned tuna in 1971 (Table 1). 



Fisherman's share 



Pex 

 ' Pr 



X 100. where Pex = ex-vessel price 



adjusted to a quantity equivalent to the final form sold to the 

 consumer: Pr = actual retail price. 



Table 1.- 



-Fisherman"s share of consumer's dollar for finfish products compared with farmer's share of the same for beef, 



pork, and market basket foods, 1950-1971. 



' Compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 



-' Includes cod. flounder, and haddock fillets. 



' Frozen ocean perch fillets only. 



^ Include meat products, dairy products, poultry, eggs, bakery and cereal products, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, processed fruits and 

 vegetables, fats and oils, and miscellaneous products — farm-originated food products purchased annually per household by wage-earners 

 and clerical worker families and single workers living alone. Meals in eating places, imported foods, seafoods, and foods not of farm-origin 

 are excluded. 



■' Series discontinued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 



