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Convenient Prices and Price Rigidity: Cross-Sectional Evidence

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  • Edward S. Knotek

    (Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City)

Abstract

This paper provides cross‐sectional evidence of convenient prices—prices that simplify and expedite transactions, reducing the time costs from physically making a transaction. Firms may wish to set convenient prices for items that are typically purchased with cash, are sold alone or with a few similar items, and are high‐traffic transactions, that is, that require queuing or are frequently purchased. I collect a new data set and find broad support for the use of convenient prices in locations where making a rapid transaction is important. Convenience also appears to predominantly affect goods and services with above‐average price rigidity. © 2011 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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  • Edward S. Knotek, 2011. "Convenient Prices and Price Rigidity: Cross-Sectional Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(3), pages 1076-1086, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:93:y:2011:i:3:p:1076-1086
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    Cited by:

    1. Levy, Daniel & Young, Andrew T., 2021. "Promise, Trust and Betrayal: Costs of Breaching an Implicit Contract," EconStor Open Access Articles, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Levy, Daniel & Snir, Avichai & Gotler, Alex & Chen, Haipeng (Allan), 2020. "Not all price endings are created equal: Price points and asymmetric price rigidity," EconStor Open Access Articles, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    3. Bruno Karoubi & R駩s Chenavaz, 2015. "Prices for cash and cash for prices? Theory and evidence on convenient pricing," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(38), pages 4102-4115, August.
    4. Avichai Snir & Daniel Levy, 2011. "Shrinking Goods and Sticky Prices: Theory and Evidence," Working Papers 2011-03, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    5. Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Oleksandr Talavera, 2017. "Price Setting in Online Markets: Basic Facts, International Comparisons, and Cross-Border Integration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(1), pages 249-282, January.
    6. Daniel Levy & Dongwon Lee & Haipeng (Allan) Chen & Robert J. Kauffman & Mark Bergen, 2011. "Price Points and Price Rigidity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(4), pages 1417-1431, November.
    7. Bouhdaoui, Y. & Bounie, D. & François, A., 2014. "Convenient prices, cash payments and price rigidity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 329-337.
    8. Edward S. Knotek, 2010. "The roles of price points and menu costs in price rigidity," Research Working Paper RWP 10-18, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    9. Edward S. Knotek & Doron Sayag & Avichai Snir, 2019. "The Effects of Price Endings on Price Rigidity: Evidence from VAT Changes," Working Papers 201924, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    10. Oleksandr Talavera & Nam Vu, 2020. "Inventory Shock and Price-Setting," Discussion Papers 20-14, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    11. Levy, Daniel & Snir, Avichai, 2013. "Shrinking Goods," MPRA Paper 46040, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Snir, Avichai & Levy, Daniel, 2021. "If You Think 9-Ending Prices Are Low, Think Again," EconStor Open Access Articles, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    13. Mark Witte & Rachel Williams, 2014. "Duopolists’ Retail Pricing Behavior in Multiple Markets," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 67-81, March.
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    15. Giulietti, Monica & Otero, Jesús & Waterson, Michael, 2020. "Rigidities and adjustments of daily prices to costs: Evidence from supermarket data," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    16. Chen, Heng & Huynh, Kim P. & Shy, Oz, 2019. "Cash versus card: Payment discontinuities and the burden of holding coins," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 192-201.
    17. Shy, Oz, 2020. "How currency denomination and the ATM affect the way we pay," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    18. Gallin, Joshua & Verbrugge, Randal J., 2019. "A theory of sticky rents: Search and bargaining with incomplete information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 478-519.
    19. Chenavaz, Régis & Drouard, Joeffrey & Escobar, Octavio R. & Karoubi, Bruno, 2018. "Convenience pricing in online retailing: Evidence from Amazon.com," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 127-139.
    20. Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Oleksandr Talavera & Nam Vu, 2020. "Quality of Goods and Price Setting for CPUs," Discussion Papers 20-23, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    21. Ater, Itai & Gerlitz, Omri, 2017. "Round prices and price rigidity: Evidence from outlawing odd prices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 188-203.
    22. Arango-Arango, Carlos A. & Bouhdaoui, Yassine & Bounie, David & Eschelbach, Martina & Hernandez, Lola, 2018. "Cash remains top-of-wallet! International evidence from payment diaries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 38-48.
    23. 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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