IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/inecon/v152y2024ics0022199624001235.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cross-country price dispersion: Retail network or national border?

Author

Listed:
  • Messner, Teresa
  • Rumler, Fabio
  • Strasser, Georg

Abstract

Why do prices differ among regions without significant trade frictions, such as the euro area? This study examines the impact of a national border on grocery prices in the economically and culturally integrated German–Austrian border region. Based on retail transactions from a large household panel, we analyse price differences of identical products sold within a narrow band along the border. We show that even retailers operating in both countries charge different prices for identical products on each side of the border. Over all products, prices are on average more than 14% higher on the Austrian side. The underlying absolute price differences average to around 20%, but vary over products and time, suggesting limits to arbitrage in cross-border shopping. This study demonstrates that even in highly integrated areas, national borders continue to matter for retail pricing.

Suggested Citation

  • Messner, Teresa & Rumler, Fabio & Strasser, Georg, 2024. "Cross-country price dispersion: Retail network or national border?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:152:y:2024:i:c:s0022199624001235
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2024.103996
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022199624001235
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jinteco.2024.103996?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Engel, Charles & Rogers, John H, 1996. "How Wide Is the Border?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1112-1125, December.
    2. Alon Eizenberg & Saul Lach & Merav Oren-Yiftach, 2021. "Retail Prices in a City," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 175-206, May.
    3. Gita Gopinath & Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Nicholas Li, 2011. "International Prices, Costs, and Markup Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2450-2486, October.
    4. Aviv Nevo & Arlene Wong, 2019. "The Elasticity Of Substitution Between Time And Market Goods: Evidence From The Great Recession," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(1), pages 25-51, February.
    5. Brent Neiman & Joseph Vavra, 2023. "The Rise of Niche Consumption," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 224-264, July.
    6. Burstein, Ariel & Gopinath, Gita, 2014. "International Prices and Exchange Rates," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 391-451, Elsevier.
    7. Rumler, Fabio & Reiff, Adam, 2014. "Within- and cross-country price dispersion in the euro area," Working Paper Series 1742, European Central Bank.
    8. Beck, Guenter W. & Kotz, Hans-Helmut & Zabelina, Natalia, 2020. "Price gaps at the border: Evidence from multi-country household scanner data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    9. Itai Ater & Oren Rigbi, 2023. "Price Transparency, Media, and Informative Advertising," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 1-29, February.
    10. Mario J. Crucini & Chris I. Telmer & Marios Zachariadis, 2005. "Understanding European Real Exchange Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 724-738, June.
    11. Raphael Auer & Ariel Burstein & Sarah Lein & Jonathan Vogel, 2024. "Unequal Expenditure Switching: Evidence from Switzerland," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(5), pages 2572-2603.
    12. Brian Adams & Kevin R. Williams, 2019. "Zone Pricing in Retail Oligopoly," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 124-156, February.
    13. Kiss, Regina & Strasser, Georg, 2024. "Inflation heterogeneity across households," Working Paper Series 2898, European Central Bank.
    14. Günter J. Hitsch & Ali Hortaçsu & Xiliang Lin, 2021. "Prices and promotions in U.S. retail markets," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 289-368, December.
    15. Méjean, Isabelle & Schwellnus, Cyrille, 2009. "Price convergence in the European Union: Within firms or composition of firms?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 1-10, June.
    16. Sarno,Lucio & Taylor,Mark P., 2003. "The Economics of Exchange Rates," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521485845, June.
    17. Reis, Ricardo, 2006. "Inattentive consumers," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(8), pages 1761-1800, November.
    18. Crucini, Mario J. & Shintani, Mototsugu, 2008. "Persistence in law of one price deviations: Evidence from micro-data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 629-644, April.
    19. Kahneman, Daniel & Knetsch, Jack L & Thaler, Richard, 1986. "Fairness as a Constraint on Profit Seeking: Entitlements in the Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 728-741, September.
    20. Imbens, Guido W. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "Regression discontinuity designs: A guide to practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 615-635, February.
    21. Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Linda L. Tesar, 2009. "Border Effect or Country Effect? Seattle May Not Be So Far from Vancouver After All," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 219-241, January.
    22. Greg Kaplan & Guido Menzio, 2015. "The Morphology Of Price Dispersion," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1165-1206, November.
    23. Nakamura, Alice O. & Nakamura, Emi & Nakamura, Leonard I., 2011. "Price dynamics, retail chains and inflation measurement," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 161(1), pages 47-55, March.
    24. Lin, Jeffrey & Rauch, Ferdinand, 2022. "What future for history dependence in spatial economics?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    25. Jessie Handbury & David E. Weinstein, 2015. "Goods Prices and Availability in Cities," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 82(1), pages 258-296.
    26. Paul W. Dobson & Michael Waterson, 2005. "Chain‐Store Pricing Across Local Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 93-119, March.
    27. Christian Broda & David E. Weinstein, 2008. "Understanding International Price Differences Using Barcode Data," NBER Working Papers 14017, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Greg Kaplan & Guido Menzio, 2015. "The Morphology Of Price Dispersion," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 56, pages 1165-1206, November.
    29. Dvir, Eyal & Strasser, Georg, 2018. "Does marketing widen borders? Cross-country price dispersion in the European car market," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 134-149.
    30. Allen, Treb & Donaldson, Dave, 2022. "Persistence and path dependence: A primer," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    31. Anders Akerman & Edwin Leuven & Magne Mogstad, 2022. "Information Frictions, Internet, and the Relationship between Distance and Trade," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 133-163, January.
    32. Jessie Handbury, 2021. "Are Poor Cities Cheap for Everyone? Non‐Homotheticity and the Cost of Living Across U.S. Cities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(6), pages 2679-2715, November.
    33. Crucini, Mario J. & Yilmazkuday, Hakan, 2014. "Understanding long-run price dispersion," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 226-240.
    34. Burdett, Kenneth & Judd, Kenneth L, 1983. "Equilibrium Price Dispersion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(4), pages 955-969, July.
    35. Stefano DellaVigna & Matthew Gentzkow, 2019. "Uniform Pricing in U.S. Retail Chains," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(4), pages 2011-2084.
    36. Alberto Cavallo & Brent Neiman & Roberto Rigobon, 2014. "Currency Unions, Product Introductions, and the Real Exchange Rate," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(2), pages 529-595.
    37. George Alessandria, 2009. "Consumer Search, Price Dispersion, And International Relative Price Fluctuations," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 50(3), pages 803-829, August.
    38. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Max H. Farrell & Roc ́ıo Titiunik, 2017. "rdrobust: Software for regression-discontinuity designs," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 17(2), pages 372-404, June.
    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. Messner, Teresa & Rumler, Fabio & Strasser, Georg, 2022. "Cross-country price and inflation dispersion: Retail network or national border," Single Market Economics Papers WP2022/11, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (European Commission), Chief Economist Team.
    2. Dvir, Eyal & Strasser, Georg, 2018. "Does marketing widen borders? Cross-country price dispersion in the European car market," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 134-149.
    3. Hoste, J. & Verboven, F., 2024. "Uncovering the Sources of Geographic Market Segmentation: Evidence from the EU and the US," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2402, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    4. Baggs, Jen & Fung, Loretta & Lapham, Beverly, 2018. "Exchange rates, cross-border travel, and retailers: Theory and empirics," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 59-79.
    5. Beck, Guenter W. & Kotz, Hans-Helmut & Zabelina, Natalia, 2020. "Price gaps at the border: Evidence from multi-country household scanner data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    6. Chahrour, Ryan & Stevens, Luminita, 2020. "Price dispersion and the border effect," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 135-146.
    7. Baxter, Marianne & Landry, Anthony, 2017. "IKEA: Product, pricing, and pass-through," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 507-520.
    8. Burstein, Ariel & Gopinath, Gita, 2014. "International Prices and Exchange Rates," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 391-451, Elsevier.
    9. Fontaine, François & Martin, Julien & Mejean, Isabelle, 2020. "Price discrimination within and across EMU markets: Evidence from French exporters," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    10. Roberto Rigobon & Brent Neiman & Alberto Cavallo, 2013. "Product Introductions, Currency Unions, and the Real Exchange Rate," 2013 Meeting Papers 1357, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Alberto Cavallo & Brent Neiman & Roberto Rigobon, 2014. "Currency Unions, Product Introductions, and the Real Exchange Rate," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(2), pages 529-595.
    12. Gita Gopinath & Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Nicholas Li, 2011. "International Prices, Costs, and Markup Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2450-2486, October.
    13. Luigi Paciello & Andrea Pozzi & Nicholas Trachter, 2019. "Price Dynamics With Customer Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(1), pages 413-446, February.
    14. Hai Long Vo & Duc Hong Vo, 2023. "The purchasing power parity and exchange‐rate economics half a century on," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 446-479, April.
    15. A. Auer, Raphael & Chaney, Thomas & Sauré, Philip, 2018. "Quality pricing-to-market," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 87-102.
    16. Duch-Brown, Néstor & Grzybowski, Lukasz & Romahn, André & Verboven, Frank, 2021. "Are online markets more integrated than traditional markets? Evidence from consumer electronics," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    17. Bhardwaj,Abhishek & Ghose,Devaki & Mukherjee,Saptarshi & Singh,Manpreet, 2022. "Million Dollar Plants and Retail Prices," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9995, The World Bank.
    18. Beck, Günter W. & Kotz, Hans-Helmut & Zabelina, Natalia, 2016. "Prices and consumer purchasing preferences at the border: Evidence from a multi-country household scanner data set," CFS Working Paper Series 536, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    19. Herz, Benedikt & Mejer, Malwina, 2020. "The effect of design protection on price and price dispersion: Evidence from automotive spare parts," MPRA Paper 109645, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Sep 2021.
    20. Nicoletta Berardi, 2023. "The Elusive Law of One Retail Chain Price," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 261-281, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Price discrimination; Market integration; Border effect; Cross-border arbitrage; Market power;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F40 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - General
    • F45 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Macroeconomic Issues of Monetary Unions

    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:eee:inecon:v:152:y:2024:i:c:s0022199624001235. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505552 .

    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.