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A Sticky-Price View of Hoarding

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  • de Paula, Aureo
  • Hansman, Christopher
  • Hong, Harrison
  • Singh, Vishal

Abstract

We show that sticky prices exacerbate household hoarding of storable goods. When stores are slow to adjust prices following a cost shock, households have an incentive to stockpile just as in a typical retail sale. This incentive is present even in the absence of traditional panic or precautionary motives for hoarding. Using detailed US supermarket scanner data covering the 2008 global rice crisis—a shock triggered by an Indian rice export ban—we find that household hoarding anticipated retail price adjustments. We construct forecast tests relating the cross-section of product or store-level price adjustments to the expectations implied by consumer purchases. Bias and efficiency tests reject panic/precautionary motives in favor of a sticky price view.

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  • de Paula, Aureo & Hansman, Christopher & Hong, Harrison & Singh, Vishal, 2020. "A Sticky-Price View of Hoarding," CEPR Discussion Papers 14633, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14633
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    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Economics of Welfare > Health Economics > Economics of Pandemics > Specific pandemics > Covid-19 > Economic consequences > Consumption > Hoarding

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    3. Tsai, I-Chun & Chen, Han-Bo & Lin, Che-Chun, 2024. "The ability of energy commodities to hedge the dynamic risk of epidemic black swans," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Schmidt, Robert C. & Westbrock, Bastian & Hoegen, Hendrik, 2023. "A simple model of panic buying," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 268-286.
    5. Ecaterina Coman & Claudiu Coman & Angela Repanovici & Mihaela Baritz & Attila Kovacs & Ana Maria Tomozeiu & Silviu Barbu & Ovidiu Toderici, 2022. "Does Sustainable Consumption Matter? The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medication Use in Brasov, Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-16, June.
    6. Kozo Ueda & Kota Watanabe & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2021. "Household Inventory, Temporary Sales, and Price Indices," Working Papers on Central Bank Communication 033, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Economics.
    7. Kozo Ueda & Kota Watanabe & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2020. "Consumer Inventory and the Cost of Living Index: Theory and Some Evidence from Japan," Working Papers on Central Bank Communication 025, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Economics.
    8. Li, Dong & Dong, Chuanwen, 2022. "Government regulations to mitigate the shortage of life-saving goods in the face of a pandemic," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 301(3), pages 942-955.
    9. Keane, Michael & Neal, Timothy, 2021. "Consumer panic in the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 220(1), pages 86-105.
    10. OTA Rui & ITO Arata & SATO Masahiro & YANO Makoto, 2022. "Social Learning and Behavioral Change When Faced with the COVID-19 Pandemic: A big data analysis," Discussion papers 22065, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Nelson Borges Amaral & Bin Chang & Rachel Burns, 2022. "Understanding consumer stockpiling: Insights provided during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 211-236, March.
    12. R. Chakraborti & G. Roberts, 2021. "Learning to Hoard: The Effects of Preexisting and Surprise Price-Gouging Regulation During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 507-529, December.

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