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Optimal Pricing Under Stochastic Inflation: State:Dependent (s,S) Policies

Author

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  • Christian R. Ahlin

    (Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University)

Abstract

A model of firm-level optimal pricing under stochastic inflation and fixed costs of adjusting prices is solved and characterized. In this model, inflation alternates stochastically between some positive rate g and zero inflation. We find that a single (s,S) band is not optimal for the firm, as was claimed in the earlier literature. Rather, the firm will set a different (s,S) band for each state of the world, with the zero-inflation band wholly contained in the positive-inflation band. A numerical example is then presented, showing that a higher variance of aggregate price changes increases price dispersion in the positive-inflation state and decreases price dispersion in the zero-inflation state.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian R. Ahlin, 2001. "Optimal Pricing Under Stochastic Inflation: State:Dependent (s,S) Policies," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0127, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:van:wpaper:0127
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Avinash K. Dixit & Robert S. Pindyck, 1994. "Investment under Uncertainty," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 5474.
    2. Andrew S. Caplin & Daniel F. Spulber, 1987. "Menu Costs and the Neutrality of Money," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(4), pages 703-725.
    3. Andrew Caplin & John Leahy, 1991. "State-Dependent Pricing and the Dynamics of Money and Output," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(3), pages 683-708.
    4. Eytan Sheshinski & Yoram Weiss, 1977. "Inflation and Costs of Price Adjustment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(2), pages 287-303.
    5. Eytan Sheshinski & Yoram Weiss, 1983. "Optimum Pricing Policy under Stochastic Inflation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 50(3), pages 513-529.
    6. Eytan Sheshinski & Yoram Weiss (ed.), 1993. "Optimal Pricing, Inflation, and the Cost of Price Adjustment," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262193329, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inflation; inflation variability; menu costs; price dispersion; state-dependent pricing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy

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