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Fair prices, sticky information, and the business cycle

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  • Söderberg, Johan

    (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University)

Abstract

A fair price model in which firms are hesitant to raise their prices due to concerns about adverse consumer reactions is developed and integrated into the standard New Keynesian framework. In the model, monetary neutrality arise as a combination of a fairness constraint putting a limit on how high prices can be set over households’ projections of firms’ marginal cost, and households’ limited ability to accurately observe marginal cost. I show analytically that the model is consistent with a plethora of outcomes, ranging from complete monetary neutrality to generating substantial real effects. When plausible values are assigned to parameters and prices are strategic complements, business cycle dynamics closely resembles that in the sticky information model proposed by Mankiw and Reis (2002).

Suggested Citation

  • Söderberg, Johan, 2015. "Fair prices, sticky information, and the business cycle," Research Papers in Economics 2015:1, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2015_0001
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    4. N. Gregory Mankiw & Ricardo Reis, 2002. "Sticky Information versus Sticky Prices: A Proposal to Replace the New Keynesian Phillips Curve," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1295-1328.
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    Cited by:

    1. Drissi, Ramzi & Ghassan, Hassan Belkacem, 2018. "Sticky Price versus Sticky Information Price: Empirical Evidence in the New Keynesian Setting," MPRA Paper 95174, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Apr 2019.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Price Setting; Fairness Concerns; Sticky Information; Monetary Non-Neutrality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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