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Microeconomic rigidities and aggregate price dynamics

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  • Caballero, Ricardo J.
  • Engel, Eduardo M. R. A.

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to enrich the characterization of the sluggish behavior of the aggregate price level. Our contribution to this vast literature is to explicitly consider microeconomic heterogeneity and its interaction with nonlinear microeconomic price adjustment policies. The model we propose outperforms the constant-probability-of-adjustment/partial- adjustment model in describing the path of postwar U.S. inflation. Using only aggregate data, we infer that the probability that a firm adjusts its price depends on the sign and the magnitude of the deviation of the price from its target level. At the aggregate level we find that the aggregate price responds less to negative shocks than to positive shocks, that the size of this asymmetry increases with the size of the shock, and that the number of firms changing their prices - and therefore the flexibility of the price level to aggregate shocks - varies endogenously over time in response to changes in economic conditions.
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Suggested Citation

  • Caballero, Ricardo J. & Engel, Eduardo M. R. A., 1993. "Microeconomic rigidities and aggregate price dynamics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 697-711, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:37:y:1993:i:4:p:697-711
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ricardo J. Caballero & Eduardo M. R. A. Engel, 1993. "Microeconomic Adjustment Hazards and Aggregate Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(2), pages 359-383.
    2. Taylor, John B, 1980. "Aggregate Dynamics and Staggered Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(1), pages 1-23, February.
    3. de Menil, George, 1974. "Aggregate Price Dynamics," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 56(2), pages 129-140, May.
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    6. Gordon, Robert J, 1984. "The Short-run Demand for Money: A Reconsideration," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 16(4), pages 403-434, November.
    7. Ricardo J. Caballero & Eduardo M.R.A. Engel, 1992. "Price Rigidities, Asymmetries, and Output Fluctuations," NBER Working Papers 4091, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Calvo, Guillermo A., 1983. "Staggered prices in a utility-maximizing framework," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 383-398, September.
    9. Caballero, Ricardo J, 1994. "Small Sample Bias and Adjustment Costs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(1), pages 52-58, February.
    10. Caballero, Ricardo J & Engel, Eduardo M R A, 1991. "Dynamic (S, s) Economies," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(6), pages 1659-1686, November.
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