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Originally Posted by Caitlin Williams
As for Daniele's comments on a standardization- let's take the opportunity to comment that Tahiti's governmental arrogance in destroying pearls that do not meet their standards is not helping anyone. |
I think there is an interesting problem there: after all, Tahitian pearls do sell for an order of magnitude more (average price per harvest) then Chinese pearls and regulation has something to do with that. Not sure if producers can self-regulate and sustain prices when industry fragmentation remains high (which sounds much like the Chinese pearl sector). Obviously, there is no such thing as perfect regulation - it's bound to create wastage, and worse along the way even if rules remain very simple (as they've been, without much differentiation among pearl types etc.).
Now... 'guess each sector just fits the respective economic environment: the huge, unlimited market jungle in China and the small states where the black pearls come from.
Just theory. Works for taxes
(and that's where I've got much of my argument from).
What I am quite curious about if anyone else but the local governments admits that the respective regulation limiting putting a lower bound on commercial black pearl quality
DID in fact sustain prices. Or was that just one more administrative myth?
