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Pricing in inflationary times- the penny drops

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  • Chakraborty, Ratula
  • Dobson, Paul
  • Seaton, Jonathan S.
  • Waterson, Michael

Abstract

We investigate micro pricing behaviour in groceries (the UK’s most important consumer market) over eight years including the inflationary period of early 2008. We find behaviour sharply distinguished from most previous work, namely that overall basket prices rise but more individual prices fall than rise! This is consistent with retailers obscuring the fact of rising basket prices. We employ a significant new source of data that captures cross-competitor interplay in prices at a very detailed level. Unusually but importantly, our work takes into account that consumers buy baskets of goods, rather than individual products, when shopping at supermarkets.

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  • Chakraborty, Ratula & Dobson, Paul & Seaton, Jonathan S. & Waterson, Michael, 2011. "Pricing in inflationary times- the penny drops," Economic Research Papers 270749, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uwarer:270749
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.270749
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    Cited by:

    1. Snir, Avichai & Chen, Haipeng (Allan) & Levy, Daniel, 2022. "Zero-Ending Prices, Cognitive Convenience, and Price Rigidity," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 203, pages 519-542.
    2. Levy, Daniel & Snir, Avichai & Gotler, Alex & Chen, Haipeng (Allan), 2020. "Not all price endings are created equal: Price points and asymmetric price rigidity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 33-49.
    3. Sang-Hyun Kim & Hao Lan & Paul W Dobson, 2021. "Identifying price-leadership structures in oligopoly," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 73(1), pages 350-370.
    4. Chakraborty, Ratula & Dobson, Paul W. & Seaton, Jonathan S. & Waterson, Michael, 2015. "Pricing in inflationary times: The penny drops," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 71-86.
    5. Pawel Baranowski & Zbigniew Kuchta, 2015. "Changes in nominal rigidities in Poland – a regime switching DSGE perspective," Lodz Economics Working Papers 6/2015, University of Lodz, Faculty of Economics and Sociology.
    6. Timothy J. Richards & Gordon J. Klein & Celine Bonnet & Zohra Bouamra-Mechemache, 2020. "Strategic Obfuscation and Retail Pricing," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 57(4), pages 859-889, December.
    7. Ray, Sourav & Snir, Avichai & Levy, Daniel, 2023. "Retail Pricing Format and Rigidity of Regular Prices," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 1-1.
    8. 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).
    9. Huw Dixon & Kul Luintel & Kun Tian, 2020. "The Impact of the 2008 Crisis on UK Prices: What We Can Learn from the CPI Microdata," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(6), pages 1322-1341, December.
    10. Seaton, Jonathan S. & Waterson, Michael, 2013. "Identifying and characterising price leadership in British supermarkets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 392-403.
    11. Doron Sayag & Avichai Snir & Daniel Levy, 2024. "Small Price Changes, Sales Volume, and Menu Cost," Papers 2403.07166, arXiv.org.
    12. Ratula Chakraborty, 2018. "Do Retailers Manipulate Prices to Favour Private Label over Brands?," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2018-02, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    13. Snir, Avichai & Levy, Daniel, 2021. "If You Think 9-Ending Prices Are Low, Think Again," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6(1 (Forthc).
    14. Kai Yin Woo & Shu Kam Lee, 2018. "Price convergence in the UK supermarket chains: Evidence from nonlinear cointegration approach," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 7(3), pages 115-125.
    15. 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.
    16. Hao Lan & Tim Lloyd & Wyn Morgan & Paul W. Dobson, 2022. "Are food price promotions predictable? The hazard function of supermarket discounts," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 64-85, February.
    17. Hao Lan & Paul W. Dobson, 2017. "Healthy Competition to Support Healthy Eating? An Investigation of Fruit and Vegetable Pricing in UK Supermarkets," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 881-900, September.
    18. Marcial López-Pastor & Jesús García-Madariaga & Joaquín Sánchez & Jose Figueiredo, 2020. "Demand Impact for Prices Ending with “9” and “0” in Online and Offline Consumer Goods Retail Trade Channels," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 10(6), pages 58-78.

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