Firm dynamics and pricing under customer capital accumulation *

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Roldan-Blanco, Pau; Gilbukh, Sonia
• 署名单位: Banco de Espana; City University of New York (CUNY) System; Baruch College (CUNY)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2020.01.011
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 99-119
• 关键词: Customer capital; directed search; firm dynamics; dynamic contracts

摘要

In a search model of firm dynamics, customer accumulation is shown to affect the life cycle of firms and the dynamics of markups in response to aggregate demand shocks. In the model, sellers of different sizes and productivities post dynamic pricing contracts to strike a balance between attracting new customers and exploiting pre-existing ones. Calibrated using establishment-level and micro-pricing data from the U.S. retail sector, the model provides a quantitatively good fit to the lifecycle and cross-sectional properties of retail establishments. Further, the model predicts that markups are procyclical to aggregate demand shocks, with a larger contribution by small sellers. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.