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We study the link between price points and price rigidity using two data sets: weekly scanner data and Internet data. We find that “9” is the most frequent ending for the penny, dime, dollar, and ten-dollar digits; the most common price changes are those that keep the price endings at “9”; 9-ending prices are less likely to change than non-9-ending prices; and the average size of price change is larger for 9-ending than non-9-ending prices. We conclude that 9-ending contributes to price rigidity from penny to dollar digits and across a wide range of product categories, retail formats, and retailers.

We estimate the curvature of the demand curve for a wide range of products. We use an extension of Deaton and Muellbauer's Almost Ideal Demand System and scanner data from a large euro area retailer. We find evidence that the overall price elasticity of demand is higher for price increases than for price decreases. However, the overall degree of curvature is one to two orders of magnitude smaller than the value economists usually impose. This suggests that the shape of the demand curve is unlikely to be the only source of real price rigidity.

We propose a new approach to test the full-information rational expectations hypothesis which can identify whether rejections of the null arise from information rigidities. This approach quantifies the economic significance of departures from the null and the underlying degree of information rigidity. Applying this approach to US and international data of professional forecasters and other agents yields pervasive evidence consistent with the presence of information rigidities. These results therefore provide a set of stylized facts which can be used to calibrate imperfect information models. Finally, we document evidence of state-dependence in the expectations formation process.

It has long been popularly believed that the relationship between inflation and relative price variability (RPV) is positive and stable. Using disaggregated CPI data for the United States and Japan, however, this study finds that the relationship is neither linear nor stable over time. The overall relationship is approximately U-shaped around a nonzero threshold inflation rate. RPV therefore changes not with the inflation rate per se, but with the deviation of inflation from the threshold inflation rate. More importantly, the relationship is by no means stable over time but instead varies significantly in a way that coincides with regime changes of inflation or monetary policy. The relationship was positive during the period of high inflation of the 1970s and the early 1980s, as has been documented by a number of previous studies, whereas it takes a U-shape profile during the Great Moderation. The results are robust to the use of core inflation, which excludes the traditionally volatile prices of food and energy. This paper then presents a modified version of the Calvo-type sticky price model to describe the observed empirical regularities. Simulation experiments show that the modified Calvo model fits the data well, and that the underlying relationship hinges upon the degree of price rigidity, which is systematically related to inflation regime. For countries and periods with low inflation rates, the relationship takes a U-shape as price adjustment is more sticky. In a high-inflation environment, when price setting becomes more flexible, the U-shaped profile vanishes.

We investigate the asymmetric relationships between aggregate inflation and the second and third moments of the cross-sectional distribution of relative prices using a modified Calvo pricing model with regime-dependent price rigidities. Calibration experiments reveal that the inflation-standard deviation and inflation-skewness relationships exhibit U-shaped asymmetries around the historical mean inflation rate. UK sectoral data support our results. We conclude that monetary policy should target an inflation rate proximate to the (common) minima of these nonlinear relationships and that core inflation measures should not be used for policy purposes as they exclude much of the information contained in the higher moments.

The authors examine the relative magnitude of price reductions for product systems and their constituent components (e. g., cameras, computers, monitors, lenses) and hypothesize that these price reductions systematically vary across different types of systems. The authors offer rational inattention as an explanation and document patterns of downward rigidity in online prices of computers and cameras that are consistent with this view. Their basic argument is that under certain circumstances, it is rational for consumers to ignore small price changes. This results in some price rigidity because firms would see no demand effect for small reductions. The authors suggest that this inattention systematically varies across different types of multicomponenþ systems, leading to specific hypotheses about sellers' pricing behavior. They first check the validity of their theoretical arguments using data from two surveys of consumers and managers. They then examine 669,557 daily price listings for 1052 high-end cameras and computers from 102 online vendors and find evidence consistent with their predictions. Using publicly available web traffic data, the authors also find that their predicted pricing behavior is aligned with better traffic response for the firm.

This paper presents the results of a survey on price-setting behavior conducted on a large random sample of Swedish firms. The median firm adjusts the price once a year. State- and time-dependent price setting are about equally important. The four highest-ranked explanations for price rigidity in this study (implicit contracts, sluggish costs, explicit contracts, and the kinked demand curve) have close correspondents among the top five places in two similar large-scale surveys carried out in the UK and the U.S. The results point to the importance of the long-term relations with customers for the rigidity of prices (the estimated share of sales that go to regular customers is more than 80%).

A lot. We derive common and conflicting predictions from models in which agents face information constraints and then assess their validity using surveys of consumers, firms, central bankers, and professional forecasters. We document that mean forecasts fail to completely adjust on impact to shocks, leading to statistically and economically significant deviations from the null of full information. The dynamics of forecast errors after shocks are consistent with the predictions of models with information rigidities. The conditional responses of forecast errors and disagreement among agents can also be used to differentiate between some of the most prominent models of information rigidities.

We offer the first direct evidence of an implicit contract in a goods market. The evidence comes from the market for Coca-Cola. Since implicit contracts are unobservable, we adopt a narrative approach to demonstrate that the Coca-Cola Company left a written evidence of the implicit contract with its customers—a very explicit form of an implicit contract. The implicit contract promised a 6.5oz Coca-Cola of a constant quality, the “secret formula,” at a constant price, 5¢. We show that Coca-Cola attributes and market structure made it a suitable candidate for an implicit contract. Focusing on the observable implications of such an implicit contract, we offer evidence of the Company both acknowledging and acting on this implicit contract, which was valued by consumers. During a period of 74 years, we find evidence of only a single case of true quality change. We demonstrate that the company perceived itself as vulnerable to consumer backlash by reneging on the pledge, and conclude that the perceived costs of breaking the implicit contract were large.

The macroeconomic implications of downward nominal wage rigidities are analyzed via a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model featuring aggregate and idiosyncratic shocks. A closed-form solution for a long-run Phillips curve relates average output gap to average wage inflation: it is virtually vertical at high inflation and flattens at low inflation. Macroeconomic volatility shifts the curve outwards and reduces output. The results imply that stabilization policies play an important role, and that optimal inflation may be positive and differ across countries with different macroeconomic volatility. Results are robust to relaxing the wage constraint, for example, when large idiosyncratic shocks arise.