IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bku/doctra/2013008.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Wage and Price Setting. New Evidence from Uruguayan Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Fernando Borraz

    (Banco Central del Uruguay)

  • Gerardo Licandro

    (Banco Central del Uruguay)

  • Daniela Sola

    (Universidad de Montevideo (Uruguay))

Abstract

This paper presents new evidence on wage and price setting based on a survey of more than 300 Uruguayan firms in 2013. Most of the firms set prices considering costs and adding a profit margin; therefore, they have some degree of market power. The evidence indicates that price increases appear quite flexible in Uruguay (prices are downward rigid). Most of the firms adjust their prices without following a regular frequency which suggests that price changes in Uruguay are state-dependent, although wage changes are concentrated in January and July. Interestingly, the cost of credit is seen by companies as an irrelevant factor in explaining price increases. We also find that cost reduction is the principal strategy to a negative demand shock. Finally, the adjustment of prices to changes in wages is relatively fast

Suggested Citation

  • Fernando Borraz & Gerardo Licandro & Daniela Sola, 2013. "Wage and Price Setting. New Evidence from Uruguayan Firms," Documentos de trabajo 2013008, Banco Central del Uruguay.
    • Handle: RePEc:bku:doctra:2013008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bcu.gub.uy/Estadisticas-e-Indicadores/Documentos%20de%20Trabajo/8.2013.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2013
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fernando Martins & M. Druant, 2009. "How are Firms’ Wages and Prices Linked: Survey Evidence in Europe," Working Papers w200918, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    2. 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.
    3. Apel, Mikael & Friberg, Richard & Hallsten, Kerstin, 2005. "Microfoundations of Macroeconomic Price Adjustment: Survey Evidence from Swedish Firms," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(2), pages 313-338, April.
    4. Fernando Borraz & Leandro Zipitría, 2012. "Retail Price Setting in Uruguay," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 77-109, January.
    5. Jan Babecky & Kamil Dybczak & Kamil Galuscak, 2008. "Survey on Wage and Price Formation of Czech Firms," Working Papers 2008/12, Czech National Bank.
    6. Ana Iregui & Ligia Melo & María Ramírez, 2012. "Wage Adjustment Practices and the Link between Price and Wages: Survey Evidence from Colombian Firms," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 76, pages 17-53.
    7. Stahl, Harald, 2005. "Price setting in German manufacturing: new evidence from new survey data," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2005,43, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    8. Fernando Borraz & Leandro Zipitría, 2012. "Retail Price Setting in Uruguay," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 77-109, January.
    9. Martins, Fernando, 2005. "The price setting behaviour of Portuguese firms: evidence from survey data," Working Paper Series 562, European Central Bank.
    10. Arnildo da Silva Correa & Myrian Beatriz S. Petrassi & Rafael Santos, 2016. "Price-Setting Behavior in Brazil: survey evidence," Working Papers Series 422, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    11. Calvo, Guillermo A., 1983. "Staggered prices in a utility-maximizing framework," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 383-398, September.
    12. Robalo Marques, Carlos & Martins, Fernando & Portugal, Pedro, 2010. "Price and wage formation in Portugal," Working Paper Series 1225, European Central Bank.
    13. Lee J. Alston & Marcus André Melo & Bernardo Mueller & Carlos Pereira, 2016. "Introduction," Introductory Chapters, in: Brazil in Transition: Beliefs, Leadership, and Institutional Change, Princeton University Press.
    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. Serafín Frache & Rodrigo Lluberas, 2017. "New information and inflation expectations among firms," Documentos de trabajo 2017013, Banco Central del Uruguay.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Klenow, Peter J. & Malin, Benjamin A., 2010. "Microeconomic Evidence on Price-Setting," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 6, pages 231-284, Elsevier.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Ercan Karadas & Defne Mutluer & Yasemin Barlas Ozer & Cevriye Aysoy, 2006. "Turkiye�de Imalat Sanayindeki Firmalarin Fiyatlama Davranisi," Working Papers 0602, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
    9. 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.
    10. Marco Hoeberichts & Ad Stokman, 2010. "Price setting behaviour in the Netherlands: results of a survey," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2-3), pages 135-149.
    11. Luis J. Álvarez & Emmanuel Dhyne & Marco Hoeberichts & Claudia Kwapil & Hervé Le Bihan & Patrick Lünnemann & Fernando Martins & Roberto Sabbatini & Harald Stahl & Philip Vermeulen & Jouko Vilmunen, 2006. "Sticky Prices in the Euro Area: A Summary of New Micro-Evidence," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(2-3), pages 575-584, 04-05.
    12. Saygın ŞAHİNÖZ & Bedri̇ye SARAÇOĞLU, 2008. "Price‐Setting Behavior In Turkish Industries: Evidence From Survey Data," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 46(4), pages 363-385, December.
    13. Ali Choudhary & Thorlakur Karlsson & Gylfi Zoega, 2009. "Survey Evidence on Customer Markets," Economics wp45, Department of Economics, Central bank of Iceland.
    14. Hernando, Ignacio & Álvarez, Luis J., 2005. "The price setting behaviour of Spanish firms: evidence from survey data," Working Paper Series 538, European Central Bank.
    15. Saygın ŞAHİNÖZ & Bedri̇ye SARAÇOĞLU, 2008. "Price‐Setting Behavior In Turkish Industries: Evidence From Survey Data," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 46(4), pages 363-385, December.
    16. Kenichi MATSUMOTO & Azusa OKAGAWA, 2010. "Analysis of Economic and Environmental Impacts of CO2 Abatement in Japan Applying a CGE Model with Knowledge Investment," EcoMod2010 259600115, EcoMod.
    17. Alvarez González, Luis Julián, 2008. "What Do Micro Price Data Tell Us on the Validity of the New Keynesian Phillips Curve?," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 2, pages 1-36.
    18. Daphne Nicolitsas, 2016. "Price Setting Practices In Greece: Evidence From A Small-Scale Firm-Level Survey," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(4), pages 367-382, October.
    19. Ana Iregui & Ligia Melo & María Ramírez, 2012. "Wage Adjustment Practices and the Link between Price and Wages: Survey Evidence from Colombian Firms," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 76, pages 17-53.
    20. Pascal Michaillat & Emmanuel Saez, 2015. "Aggregate Demand, Idle Time, and Unemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 507-569.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    price setting; labor market; survey evidence; Uruguay;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure

    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:bku:doctra:2013008. 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: Biblioteca Especializada (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bcugvuy.html .

    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.