Informational rigidities and the stickiness of temporary Sales

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Anderson, Eric; Malin, Benjamin A.; Nakamura, Emi; Simester, Duncan; Steinsson, Jon
• 署名单位: Northwestern University; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Minneapolis; Columbia University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2017.06.003
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 64-83
• 关键词: Temporary sales; inflation dynamics; Trade deals

摘要

How do retailers react to cost changes? While temporary sales account for 95% of price change in our data, retail prices respond to a wholesale cost increase entirely through the regular price. Sales actually respond temporarily in the opposite direction from regular prices, as though to conceal the price hike. Additional evidence from responses to commodity cost and local unemployment shocks, as well as broader evidence from BLS data, reinforces these findings. Institutional evidence indicates that sales are complex contingent contracts, determined substantially in advance. In a standard price-discrimination model, these institutional practices leave little money on the table. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.