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Yesterday's Bad Times Are Today's Good Old Times: Retail Price Changes Are More Frequent Today Than in the 1890s

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  • ALAN KACKMEISTER

Abstract

This paper documents differences in the nominal rigidity of retail prices across two 28-month periods: 1889-91 and 1997-99. The most striking finding is that prices changed much less frequently in 1889-91. In the late-1800s when price changes did occur they were smaller on average and more narrowly distributed with fewer small or large price changes. Further, price changes were more permanent 100-plus years ago. These differences are consistent with a high occurrence of temporary price shocks and a higher cost of changing prices in 1889-91 than in 1997-99. Copyright 2007 The Ohio State University.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan Kackmeister, 2007. "Yesterday's Bad Times Are Today's Good Old Times: Retail Price Changes Are More Frequent Today Than in the 1890s," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(8), pages 1987-2020, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcb:jmoncb:v:39:y:2007:i:8:p:1987-2020
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Alberto Cavallo & Roberto Rigobon, 2011. "The Distribution of the Size of Price Changes," NBER Working Papers 16760, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Chen, Yao & Ward, Felix, 2019. "When do fixed exchange rates work? Evidence from the Gold Standard," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 158-172.
    5. Chen, Haipeng (Allan) & Levy, Daniel & Ray, Sourav & Bergen, Mark, 2008. "Asymmetric Price Adjustment in the Small," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 728-737.
    6. Eyster, Erik & Madarász, Kristóf & Michaillat, Pascal, 2015. "Preferences for fair prices, cursed inferences, and the nonneutrality of money," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60845, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Visockytė Ligita, 2018. "Price Rigidity in Norway in the Nineteenth Century," Ekonomika (Economics), Sciendo, vol. 97(1), pages 32-46, January.
    8. Ross D. Hickey & David S. Jacks, 2011. "Nominal rigidities and retail price dispersion in Canada over the twentieth century," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(3), pages 749-780, August.
    9. Ward, Felix & Chen, Yao, 2016. "Rigid relations: External adjustment under the Gold Standard (1880-1913)," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145930, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Emi Nakamura & Jón Steinsson, 2008. "Five Facts about Prices: A Reevaluation of Menu Cost Models," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(4), pages 1415-1464.
    11. Erik Eyster & Kristóf Madarász & Pascal Michaillat, 2021. "Pricing Under Fairness Concerns," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 1853-1898.
    12. Knotek II, Edward S., 2008. "Convenient prices, currency, and nominal rigidity: Theory with evidence from newspaper prices," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(7), pages 1303-1316, October.

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