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Some Evolutionary Foundations for Price Level Rigidity

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  • Gilles Saint-Paul

Abstract

This paper shows that price rigidity evolves in an economy populated by imperfectly rational agents who experiment with alternative rules of thumb. In the model, firms must set their prices in face of aggregate demand shocks. Their payoff depends on the level of aggregate demand, as well as on their own price and their "neighbor's" price. The latter assumption captures local interactions. Despite the fact that the rational expectations equilibrium (REE) is characterized by a simple pricing rule that firms can easily adopt, the economy does not converge to the REE for all parameter values. When the volatility of monetary innovations is low and interactions among firms are high, the aggregate price level exhibits rigidity, in that it does not fully react to contemporaneous aggregate demand shocks. We discuss the role of the nature of experimentation, and of path dependence driven by interactions, in explaining these results.

Suggested Citation

  • Gilles Saint-Paul, 2005. "Some Evolutionary Foundations for Price Level Rigidity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 765-779, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:95:y:2005:i:3:p:765-779
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/0002828054201251
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    Cited by:

    1. Alexis Anagnostopoulos & Omar Licandro & Italo Bove & Karl Schlag, 2007. "An Evolutionary Theory of Inflation Inertia," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 5(2-3), pages 433-443, 04-05.
    2. Lima, Gilberto Tadeu & da Silveira, Jaylson Jair, 2008. "Nominal Adjustment Regimes in an Evolutionary Macrodynamics," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 28(1), May.
    3. Lukach, R. & Plasmans, J.E.J., 2002. "Measuring Knowledge Spillovers using Patent Citations : Evidence from the Belgian Firm's Data," Other publications TiSEM d78bf59a-e0ff-4451-86b9-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Saint-Paul, Gilles, 2010. "A "quantum" approach to rational inattention," CEPR Discussion Papers 7739, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Saint-Paul, Gilles, 2017. "A “quantized” approach to rational inattention," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 50-71.
    6. Albert Marcet & Juan Pablo Nicolini, 2005. "Money and Prices in Models of Bounded Rationality in High Inflation Economies," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 8(2), pages 452-479, April.
    7. repec:spa:wpaper:2013wpecon03 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Jaylson Jair da Silveira & Gilberto Tadeu Lima, 2007. "Regimes De Ajustamento Nominal Em Uma Macrodinâmica Evolucionária," Anais do XXXV Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 35th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 021, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    9. Gilberto Tadeu Lima & Jaylson Jair Silveira, 2015. "Monetary Neutrality Under Evolutionary Dominance Of Bounded Rationality," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(2), pages 1108-1131, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)

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