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Using Brexit To Identify the Nature of Price Rigidities

In: NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics 2020

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  • Bart Hobijn
  • Fernanda Nechio
  • Adam Hale Shapiro

Abstract

Using price quote data that underpin the official U.K. consumer price index (CPI), we analyze the effects of the unexpected passing of the Brexit referendum to the dynamics of price adjustments. The sizable depreciation of the British pound that immediately followed Brexit works as a quasi-experiment, enabling us to study the transmission of a large common marginal cost shock to inflation as well as the distribution of prices within granular product categories. A large portion of the inflationary effect is attributable to the size of price adjustments, implying that a time-dependent price-setting model can match the response of aggregate inflation reasonably well. The state-dependent model fares better in capturing the endogenous selection of price changes at the lower end of the price distribution, however, it misses on the magnitude of the adjustment conditional on selection.
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Suggested Citation

  • Bart Hobijn & Fernanda Nechio & Adam Hale Shapiro, 2020. "Using Brexit To Identify the Nature of Price Rigidities," NBER Chapters, in: NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics 2020, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:14516
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    3. Holger Breinlich & Elsa Leromain & Dennis Novy & Thomas Sampson, 2022. "The Brexit Vote, Inflation And U.K. Living Standards," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 63(1), pages 63-93, February.
    4. Hülya Saygılı & Aysun Türkvatan, 2023. "Tradable and non-tradable inflation in Turkey: asymmetric responses to global factors," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(2), pages 973-1006, August.
    5. Abidemi Adisa & Michael Farmer & Jamie Bologna Pavlik, 2023. "The effect of the Mahathir regime on the Malaysian economy," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 97-114, January.
    6. Fernandes, Ana P. & Winters, L. Alan, 2021. "Exporters and shocks: The impact of the Brexit vote shock on bilateral exports to the UK," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange

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