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Pricing Patterns over Product Life-Cycle and Quality Growth at Product Turnover: Empirical Evidence from Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Nobuhiro Abe

    (Bank of Japan)

  • Yojiro Ito

    (Bank of Japan)

  • Ko Munakata

    (Bank of Japan)

  • Shinsuke Ohyama

    (Bank of Japan)

  • Kimiaki Shinozaki

    (Bank of Japan)

Abstract

This paper examines pricing patterns over the product life-cycle and quality growth at the time of product turnover regarding a wide range of durable consumer goods sold in Japan. Applying hedonic regressions with time dummies to large granular data sets obtained from Kakaku.com, the most popular price comparison website in Japan, we find out that sellers tend to raise product prices more than those justified by quality improvements to ensure the profitability at product turnover. A glance at the pricing patterns reveals that the prices of new products decrease gradually with the elapse of time, however, the pace of falling in prices varies considerably among commodities. The quality improvement ratio, which measures the contribution of quality growth to the price difference between matched pair of a new product and an old one by commodities, exhibits a unimodal distribution slightly fat-tailed to the right. The mode value of the distribution is about 0.5-0.6 for home electrical appliances and about 0.6-0.7 for digital consumer electronics. Those results provide an empirical support to the existing quality adjustment method in the field of the price index, so-called 50% rule, which has been implemented by some statistical agencies. Our findings bring significant implications for improving quality adjustment methods under uncertainty of quality evaluation and lead to the better understanding of the firms' price setting behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Nobuhiro Abe & Yojiro Ito & Ko Munakata & Shinsuke Ohyama & Kimiaki Shinozaki, 2016. "Pricing Patterns over Product Life-Cycle and Quality Growth at Product Turnover: Empirical Evidence from Japan," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 16-E-5, Bank of Japan.
    • Handle: RePEc:boj:bojwps:wp16e05
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    5. Satoshi Nakano & Kazuhiko Nishimura, 2013. "Welfare gain from quality and price development in the Japan’s LCD TV market," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 889-908, September.
    6. Takayuki Mizuno & Makoto Nirei & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2010. "Closely Competing Firms and Price Adjustment: Some Findings from an Online Marketplace," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(4), pages 673-696, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yuki Teranishi, 2017. "Product Cycles and Prices:Search Foundation," UTokyo Price Project Working Paper Series 079, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Economics.
    2. Nobuhiro Abe & Kimiaki Shinozaki, 2018. "Compilation of Experimental Price Indices Using Big Data and Machine Learning:A Comparative Analysis and Validity Verification of Quality Adjustments," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 18-E-13, Bank of Japan.
    3. David Argente & Munseob Lee & Sara Moreira, 2018. "How do Firms Grow? The Life Cycle of Products Matters," 2018 Meeting Papers 1174, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Jan de Haan & Rens Hendriks & Michael Scholz, 2021. "Price Measurement Using Scanner Data: Time‐Product Dummy Versus Time Dummy Hedonic Indexes," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 394-417, June.
    5. repec:grz:wpaper:2016-13 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    price index; quality adjustment; price setting; hedonic approach;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality

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