IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v25y2008i3p499-511.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Flexible reservation prices and price inflexibility

Author

Listed:
  • Gangopadhyay, Partha
  • Gangopadhyay, Renu

Abstract

This paper studies conditions under which prices are sticky in a non-competitive market even though there is no menu cost associated with price changes. We posit that a typical seller encounters a series of repeat-buyers some of whom may revise their reservation prices (in an unknown fashion) if the seller changes the price offer. In this sense the reservation prices are pliable, or flexible. The seller fails to learn some of the changes in reservation prices from the market data instantaneously. As a result, a rational seller may find it profitable to adjust the price partially in order to collect more endogenous information about the unknown demand parameters. An incomplete price adjustment will thus turn out to be the optimal pricing strategy of a seller even if there is no explicit price adjustment cost, such as menu costs. Price rigidity, in the absence of explicit price adjustment costs (such as menu costs), can assume central importance in providing a theoretical salience to fix-price models and, thereby, explain persistence of unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Gangopadhyay, Partha & Gangopadhyay, Renu, 2008. "Flexible reservation prices and price inflexibility," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 499-511, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:25:y:2008:i:3:p:499-511
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264-9993(07)00100-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. N. Gregory Mankiw, 1985. "Small Menu Costs and Large Business Cycles: A Macroeconomic Model of Monopoly," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(2), pages 529-538.
    2. Blinder, Alan S. & Mankiw, N. Gregory, 1984. "Aggregation and stabilization policy in a multi-contract economy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 67-86, January.
    3. Blinder, Alan S, 1991. "Why Are Prices Sticky? Preliminary Results from an Interview Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 89-96, May.
    4. Blanchard, Olivier Jean, 1990. "Why does money affect output? A survey," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: B. M. Friedman & F. H. Hahn (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 15, pages 779-835, Elsevier.
    5. Gordon, Robert J, 1981. "Output Fluctuations and Gradual Price Adjustment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 19(2), pages 493-530, June.
    6. Carlton, Dennis W, 1979. "Contracts, Price Rigidity, and Market Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 1034-1062, October.
    7. R. L. Hall & C. J. Hitch, 1939. "Price Theory And Business Behaviour," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 0(1), pages 12-45.
    8. Robert J. Barro, 1972. "A Theory of Monopolistic Price Adjustment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 39(1), pages 17-26.
    9. Rotemberg, Julio J, 1982. "Sticky Prices in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(6), pages 1187-1211, December.
    10. repec:bla:scandj:v:91:y:1989:i:2:p:223-52 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Malcolm C. Sawyer, 1983. "Business Pricing and Inflation," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-03166-5, December.
    12. Rothschild, Michael, 1973. "Models of Market Organization with Imperfect Information: A Survey," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(6), pages 1283-1308, Nov.-Dec..
    13. Jerzy D. Konieczny, 1994. "Menu Costs, Entry Deterrence, and Nominal Rigidity," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 27(4), pages 827-846, November.
    14. Fischer, Stanley, 1977. "Long-Term Contracts, Rational Expectations, and the Optimal Money Supply Rule," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(1), pages 191-205, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gangopadhyay, Partha, 2020. "A new & simple model of currency crisis: Bifurcations and the emergence of a bad equilibrium," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 538(C).
    2. Alsamara, Mouyad Kassm & Mrabet, Zouhair & Elafif, Mohamed & Gangopadhyay, Partha, 2017. "The asymmetric effects of oil price on economic growth in Turkey and Saudi Arabia: new evidence from nonlinear ARDL approach," International Journal of Development and Conflict, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 97-118.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Simon Hall & Mark Walsh & Anthony Yates, 1997. "How do UK companies set prices?," Bank of England working papers 67, Bank of England.
    2. Martha Misas A. & Enrique López E. & Juan Carlos Parra A., 2013. "Price Formation in Colombian Firms: Evidence Gathered from a Direct Survey," Investigación Conjunta-Joint Research, in: Laura Inés D'Amato & Enrique López Enciso & María Teresa Ramírez Giraldo (ed.), Inflationary Dynamics, Persistence, and Prices and Wages Formation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 251-321, Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos, CEMLA.
    3. Emmanuel Dhyne & Jerzy Konieczny & Fabio Rumler & Patrick Sevestre, 2009. "Price rigidity in the euro area - An assessment," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 380, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    4. Carlos Borondo, 1994. "La rigidez nominal de los precios de la Nueva Economía Keynesiana: una panorámica," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 18(2), pages 245-288, May.
    5. Laura Inés D'Amato & Enrique López Enciso & María Teresa Ramírez Giraldo (ed.), 2013. "Inflationary Dynamics, Persistence, and Prices and Wages Formation," Investigación Conjunta-Joint Research, Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos, CEMLA, edition 1, volume 1, number 2en, December.
    6. Fabiani, S. & Druant, M. & Hernando, I. & Kwapil, C. & Landau, B. & Loupias, C. & Martins, F. & Mathä, T. & Sabbatini, R. & Stahl, H. & Stockman, A., 2005. "The Pricing Behaviour of Firms in the Euro Area: New Survey Evidence," Working papers 135, Banque de France.
    7. Paul Downward & Frederick Lee, "undated". "Post Keynesian Pricing Theory `Reconfirmed'(?) A Critical Review of `Asking About Prices'," Working Papers 98-13, Staffordshire University, Business School.
    8. Slanicay Martin, 2014. "Some Notes on Historical, Theoretical, and Empirical Background of DSGE Models," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 14(2), pages 145-164, June.
    9. Andrew S. Caplin & Daniel F. Spulber, 1987. "Menu Costs and the Neutrality of Money," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(4), pages 703-725.
    10. Silvia Fabiani & Martine Druant & Ignacio Hernando & Claudia Kwapil & Bettina Landau & Claire Loupias & Fernando Martins & Thomas Mathä & Roberto Sabbatini & Harald Stahl & Ad Stokman, 2006. "What Firms' Surveys Tell Us about Price-Setting Behavior in the Euro Area," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 2(3), September.
    11. Don J Webber & Gail A Webber & Sebastian Berger & Peter Bradley, 2018. "Explaining productivity in a poor productivity region," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(1), pages 157-174, February.
    12. repec:onb:oenbwp:y::i:100:b:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Carlton, Dennis W., 1989. "The theory and the facts of how markets clear: Is industrial organization valuable for understanding macroeconomics?," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 15, pages 909-946, Elsevier.
    14. R. Glenn Hubbard & Robert J. Weiner, 1985. "Nominal Contracting and Price Flexibility in Product Markets," NBER Working Papers 1738, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. N. Gregory Mankiw & Ricardo Reis, 2002. "Sticky Information versus Sticky Prices: A Proposal to Replace the New Keynesian Phillips Curve," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1295-1328.
    16. Martha Misas A. & Enrique López E. & Juan Carlos Parra A., 2013. "La formación de precios en las empresas colombianas: evidencia a partir de una encuesta directa," Investigación Conjunta-Joint Research, in: Laura Inés D'Amato & Enrique López Enciso & María Teresa Ramírez Giraldo (ed.), Dinámica inflacionaria, persistencia y formación de precios y salarios, edition 1, chapter 11, pages 273-348, Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos, CEMLA.
    17. Daniel Levy & Andrew T. Young, 2021. "Promise, trust, and betrayal: Costs of breaching an implicit contract," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(3), pages 1031-1051, January.
    18. Levy, Daniel & Müller, Georg & Chen, Haipeng (Allan) & Bergen, Mark & Dutta, Shantanu, 2010. "Holiday Price Rigidity and Cost of Price Adjustment," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 77(305), pages 172-198.
    19. 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.
    20. 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].
    21. Slade, Margaret E., 1999. "Sticky prices in a dynamic oligopoly: An investigation of (s,S) thresholds," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 477-511, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:25:y:2008:i:3:p:499-511. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.