Not all price endings are created equal: Price points and asymmetric price rigidity

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Levy, Daniel; Snir, Avichai; Gotler, Alex; Chen, Haipeng (Allan)
• 署名单位: Bar Ilan University; Emory University; Wilfrid Laurier University; Netanya Academic College; Open University Israel; University of Kentucky
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2019.01.005
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 33-49
• 关键词: Asymmetric price adjustment; Sticky rigid prices; 9-ending prices; Psychological prices; Price points; Regular/Sale prices

摘要

We document an asymmetry in the rigidity of 9-ending prices relative to non-9-ending prices. Consumers have difficulty noticing higher prices if they are 9-ending, or noticing price-increases if the new prices are 9-ending, because 9-endings are used as a signal for low prices. Price setters respond strategically to the consumer-heuristic by setting 9-ending prices more often after price-increases than after price-decreases. 9-ending prices, therefore, remain 9-ending more often after price-increases than after price-decreases, leading to asymmetric rigidity: 9-ending prices are more rigid upward than downward. These findings hold for both transaction-prices and regular-prices, and for both inflation and noinflation periods. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.