IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/econom/v75y2008i300p683-699.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evidence on the Functional Relationship between Relative Price Variability and Inflation with Implications for Monetary Policy

Author

Listed:
  • DAVID FIELDING
  • PAUL MIZEN

Abstract

This paper considers the functional relationship between relative price variability (RPV) and inflation using quarterly personal consumer expenditure data in the US over 1967(I)–2003(I), deriving some implications for monetary policy. Non‐parametric regression techniques are used to explore the shape of the RPV function, and this shape is related to the theory outlined by J. J. Rotemberg. The empirical RPV function yields a plausible ‘optimal’ value of inflation in the region of five percentage points, which is consistent with this theory and lies within the range of values cited by recent evaluations of ‘sand’ and ‘grease’ effects.

Suggested Citation

  • David Fielding & Paul Mizen, 2008. "Evidence on the Functional Relationship between Relative Price Variability and Inflation with Implications for Monetary Policy," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(300), pages 683-699, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:75:y:2008:i:300:p:683-699
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00637.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00637.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00637.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hercowitz, Zvi, 1981. "Money and the Dispersion of Relative Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(2), pages 328-356, April.
    2. Feldstein, Martin S, 1979. "The Welfare Cost of Permanent Inflation and Optimal Short-Run Economic Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(4), pages 749-768, August.
    3. Domberger, Simon, 1987. "Relative Price Variability and Inflation: A Disaggregated Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(3), pages 547-566, June.
    4. Chari, V. V. & Christiano, Lawrence J. & Kehoe, Patrick J., 1996. "Optimality of the Friedman rule in economies with distorting taxes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 203-223, April.
    5. Robinson, Peter M, 1988. "Root- N-Consistent Semiparametric Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(4), pages 931-954, July.
    6. Wyplosz, Charles, 2001. "Do We Know How Low Inflation Should Be?," CEPR Discussion Papers 2722, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Cukierman, Alex & Leiderman, Leonardo, 1984. "Price Controls and the Variability of Relative Prices," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 16(3), pages 271-284, August.
    8. Dieter Nautz & Juliane Scharff, 2005. "Inflation and Relative Price Variability in a Low Inflation Country: Empirical Evidence for Germany," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 6(4), pages 507-523, November.
    9. Michael F. Bryan & Stephen G. Cecchetti, 1999. "Inflation And The Distribution Of Price Changes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(2), pages 188-196, May.
    10. Angus Deaton & Christina Paxson, 1998. "Economies of Scale, Household Size, and the Demand for Food," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 897-930, October.
    11. Blejer, Mario I & Leiderman, Leonardo, 1980. "On the Real Effects of Inflation and Relative-Price Variability: Some Empirical Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(4), pages 539-544, November.
    12. Todd E. Clark, 1999. "A comparison of the CPI and the PCE price index," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, vol. 84(Q III), pages 15-29.
    13. Michael Aarstol, 1999. "Inflation, Inflation Uncertainty, and Relative Price Variability," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(2), pages 414-423, October.
    14. Vining, Daniel R, Jr & Elwertowski, Thomas C, 1976. "The Relationship between Relative Prices and the General Price Level," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(4), pages 699-708, September.
    15. Erica L. Groshen & Mark E. Schweitzer, 1994. "The effects of inflation on wage adjustments in firm-level data: grease or sand?," Working Papers (Old Series) 9418, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    16. Mulligan, Casey B & Sala-I-Martin, Xavier X, 1997. "The Optimum Quantity of Money: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(4), pages 687-715, November.
    17. George A. Akerlof & William R. Dickens & George L. Perry, 1996. "The Macroeconomics of Low Inflation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 27(1), pages 1-76.
    18. Tobin, James, 1972. "Inflation and Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 1-18, March.
    19. Dieter Nautz & Juliane Scharff, 2012. "Inflation and relative price variability in the euro area: evidence from a panel threshold model," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 449-460, February.
    20. Reinsdorf, Marshall, 1994. "New Evidence on the Relation between Inflation and Price Dispersion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 720-731, June.
    21. Van Hoomissen, Theresa, 1988. "Price Dispersion and Inflation: Evidence from Israel," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(6), pages 1303-1314, December.
    22. Barro, Robert J., 1976. "Rational expectations and the role of monetary policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-32, January.
    23. Robert M. Adams, 1994. "On the welfare cost of inflation," Working Papers in Applied Economic Theory 94-07, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    24. Stanley Fischer, 1981. "Relative Shocks, Relative Price Variability, and Inflation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 12(2), pages 381-442.
    25. Bomberger, William A & Makinen, Gail E, 1993. "Inflation and Relative Price Variability: Parks' Study Reexamined," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 25(4), pages 854-861, November.
    26. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1973. "Some International Evidence on Output-Inflation Tradeoffs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(3), pages 326-334, June.
    27. George A. Akerlof & William T. Dickens & George L. Perry, 2000. "Near-Rational Wage and Price Setting and the Long-Run Phillips Curve," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 31(1), pages 1-60.
    28. Judson, Ruth & Orphanides, Athanasios, 1999. "Inflation, Volatility and Growth," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(1), pages 117-138, April.
    29. Parsley, David C, 1996. "Inflation and Relative Price Variability in the Short and Long Run: New Evidence from the United States," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(3), pages 323-341, August.
    30. Edwin M. Truman, 2003. "Inflation Targeting in the World Economy," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 346, October.
    31. David Fielding & Paul Mizen, 2000. "Relative Price Variability and Inflation in Europe," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 67(265), pages 57-78, February.
    32. Parks, Richard W, 1978. "Inflation and Relative Price Variability," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(1), pages 79-95, February.
    33. David FIELDING & Paul MIZEN, 2001. "The Relationship between Price Dispersion and Inflation: A Reassessment," Economics Working Papers ECO2001/10, European University Institute.
    34. Danziger, Leif, 1987. "Inflation, Fixed Cost of Price Adjustment, and Measurement of Relative-Price Variability: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 704-713, September.
    35. Julio J. Rotemberg, 1982. "Monopolistic Price Adjustment and Aggregate Output," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 49(4), pages 517-531.
    36. Grier, Kevin B. & Perry, Mark J., 1996. "Inflation, inflation uncertainty, and relative price dispersion: Evidence from bivariate GARCH-M models," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 391-405, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Monir Uddin Ahmed & Md. Moniruzzaman Muzib & Md. Mahedi Hasan, 2016. "Inflation, inflation uncertainty and relative price variability in Bangladesh," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 6(3), pages 389-427, December.
    2. María Ángeles Caraballo & Carlos Dabús., 2008. "The Determinants of Relative Price Variability: Further Evidence from Argentina," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 45(132), pages 235-255.
    3. Banerjee, Anindya & Mizen, Paul & Russell, Bill, 2007. "Inflation, relative price variability and the markup: Evidence from the United States and the United Kingdom," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 82-100, January.
    4. Debelle, Guy & Lamont, Owen, 1997. "Relative Price Variability and Inflation: Evidence from U.S. Cities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(1), pages 132-152, February.
    5. Mª Ángeles Caraballo Pou & Carlos Dabús & Diego Caramuta, 2006. "A Non-linear "Inflation-Relative Prices Variability" Relationship: Evidence from Latin America," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2006/09, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    6. Hiranya K. Nath & Jayanta Sarkar, 2019. "Inflation and relative price variability: new evidence from survey-based measures of inflation expectations in Australia," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 2001-2024, June.
    7. Cleomar Gomes da Silva & Gilberto O. Boaretto, 2018. "Inflation and Relative Price Variability in Brazil: A Time-Varying Parameter Approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(4), pages 1947-1956.
    8. David Fielding & Christopher Hajzler & James (Jim) C. MacGee, 2017. "Price-Level Dispersion versus Inflation-Rate Dispersion: Evidence from Three Countries," Staff Working Papers 17-3, Bank of Canada.
    9. André Binette & Sylvain Martel, 2005. "Inflation and Relative Price Dispersion in Canada: An Empirical Assessment," Staff Working Papers 05-28, Bank of Canada.
    10. Cleomar Gomes da Silva, 2015. "Relative price variability in Brazil: an analysis of headline and core inflation rates [Relative price variability in Brazil: an analysis of headline and core inflation rates]," Nova Economia, Economics Department, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), vol. 25(1), pages 83-100, January-A.
    11. Michael Aarstol, 1999. "Inflation, Inflation Uncertainty, and Relative Price Variability," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(2), pages 414-423, October.
    12. Muhammad Akmal, 2012. "The Relationship between Inflation and Relative Price Variability in Pakistan," SBP Working Paper Series 44, State Bank of Pakistan, Research Department.
    13. Richard Ashley & Haichun Ye, 2012. "On the Granger causality between median inflation and price dispersion," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(32), pages 4221-4238, November.
    14. David Parsley Helen Popper, 2002. "Inflation And Price Dispersion In Equity Markets And In Goods And Services Markets," Macroeconomics 0211004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Bill Russell, 2002. "The Long Run Relationships among Price Variability, Inflation and the Markup," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 127, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    16. Chi-Young Choi, 2010. "Reconsidering the Relationship between Inflation and Relative Price Variability," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(5), pages 769-798, August.
    17. Gulnihal Aksoy & Don Bredin & Deirdre Corcoran & Stilianos Fountas, 2016. "Relative Price Dispersion and In flation: Evidence for the UK and the US," Discussion Paper Series 2016_05, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Dec 2016.
    18. V. H. Smith & J. S. Lapp, 1993. "Relative Price Variability Among Agricultural Commodities And Macroeconomic Instability In The United Kingdom," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 272-283, May.
    19. Matthias R. Fengler & Joachim K. Winter, 2007. "Price variability and price dispersion in a stable monetary environment: evidence from German retail markets," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(7), pages 789-801.
    20. Dieter Nautz & Juliane Scharff, 2012. "Inflation and relative price variability in the euro area: evidence from a panel threshold model," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 449-460, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:75:y:2008:i:300:p:683-699. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.