And if Mr Buffett is right that the price of influence is set to rise dramatically, the number of business people who turn against the system, as they are priced out of an increasingly competitive market, can only increase.
The price break may influence what speculators did with their positions.
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There are a number of different factors which will influence the price or valuation of the company.
Three professors (from Stanford, INSEAD and MIT, respectively) have come up with a variation on this theme: that the price paid can also influence behaviour.
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At the other extreme, Saudi Arabia, the most important exporter, is a swing producer, able to vary production levels more easily than most and thus has a crucial role when OPEC seeks to influence the price by restricting or expanding demand.
There are even marketplaces, like Adly, to let anyone tap into this influence for a price.
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But although small shops compete vigorously with one another on price and quality, their influence on big supermarkets is negligible.
The secret, according to Bernard Swanepoel, Harmony's chief executive, is to stop trying to influence the gold price and concentrate on operations.
Today, the global market has a greater influence over the price of milk because the United States exports almost 15% of what farms produce.
On the one hand DELL is a master of social media, a pioneer of new social media techniques - on the other it cannot influence its share price positively through social.
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It turns out that this publicly-traded corporation was losing money, so in order for the CEO to impress Wall Street analysts, who influence the stock price, almost 2, 000 employees across the company were told to hit the bricks.
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The actual technology used to generate electrical energy has only a weak influence on the cleared price of energy in a large free market of this sort.
The past catalyst that drove gold to a near two thousand dollar per ounce price tag will not have any influence until the current cycle of investors is rinsed from the picture.
The price of beef is of great political influence in Argentina.
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Mr Price faces claims he used "undue influence" during the appointment of the daughter of Dave McLuckie, the former police authority chairman, to a civilian post with the force.
One chapter, "The Fallacy of Supply and Demand, " focuses on how the initial price of a product can have an undue influence on what people are willing to pay.
Sufficient refinery capacity has as much influence on gasoline prices as fluctuations in the price of oil so if Americans want stable gasoline prices and almost no dependence on oil from outside North America, we need more refineries.
The European Central Bank's monetary policy (and also the fiscal policies of euro member governments) will, of course, influence both the demand for the euro and its price.
"The price of gas is outrageous, but that will not have an influence on who I vote for, " senior Natalie Younts said.
Once Apple and Amazon have taken their cut, publishers are likely to make less money on e-books under this new arrangement than under the wholesale one a price they seem willing to pay in order to limit Amazon's influence and bolster print sales.
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So if you have a financial community that, at the peak of the bubble, and the pit of the trough, is under the influence of these very highly elevated chemicals then they are basically price insensitive and I think that means that monetary policy stops working.
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An increase in short interest in line with climbing prices (when other factors are not an influence) is a pattern we see when short sellers are sceptical of the price move, and believe the securities to be overbought.
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The price fluctuations of 2007-09 suggested that uncertainty in the world of agriculture was deepening under the influence both of oil prices and capital flows.
As climate change begins to influence our lives, it is the poorest women and children who again will pay the highest price.
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