IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecb/ecbwps/20172002.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Changing prices... changing times: evidence for Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Fabiani, Silvia
  • Porqueddu, Mario

Abstract

This paper examines the process of adjustment of prices in Italy to determine whether nominal flexibility, measured by the frequency of price changes, has increased in the recent years of protracted stagnation and double-dip recession. The analysis is based on a large micro-level dataset of individual prices collected monthly by Istat from 2006 to 2013 for the Consumer Price Index. We find that both the percentage of prices adjusted monthly and the average size of the adjustment have risen significantly since the 1996-2001 period, in particular for downward changes. This greater flexibility is related in part to the spread of modern distribution structures. Our estimates further indicate that the recession has affected the price adjustment mechanism: for manufactures, price cuts have become larger and more frequent, while increases are more moderate; for services, both the frequency and the size of price increases have diminished. JEL Classification: E31, D21, D40, L11

Suggested Citation

  • Fabiani, Silvia & Porqueddu, Mario, 2017. "Changing prices... changing times: evidence for Italy," Working Paper Series 2002, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20172002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//pub/pdf/scpwps/ecbwp2002.en.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emmanuel Dhyne & Luis J. Alvarez & Herve Le Bihan & Giovanni Veronese & Daniel Dias & Johannes Hoffmann & Nicole Jonker & Patrick Lunnemann & Fabio Rumler & Jouko Vilmunen, 2006. "Price Changes in the Euro Area and the United States: Some Facts from Individual Consumer Price Data," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 171-192, Spring.
    2. Nicoletta Berardi & Erwan Gautier & Hervé Le Bihan, 2015. "More Facts about Prices: France Before and During the Great Recession," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(8), pages 1465-1502, December.
    3. Mark Bils & Peter J. Klenow, 2004. "Some Evidence on the Importance of Sticky Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(5), pages 947-985, October.
    4. Eyal Baharad & Benjamin Eden, 2004. "Price Rigidity and Price Dispersion: Evidence from Micro Data," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 7(3), pages 613-641, July.
    5. Antonio Bassanetti & Martina Cecioni & Andrea Nobili & Giordano Zevi, 2011. "Le principali recessioni italiane: un confronto retrospettivo," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, issue 3, pages 281-318, JULY-SEPT.
    6. Taylor, John B., 1999. "Staggered price and wage setting in macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 15, pages 1009-1050, Elsevier.
    7. Luis J. Álvarez & Ignacio Hernando, 2006. "Competition and price adjustment in the euro area," Working Papers 0629, Banco de España.
    8. Emi Nakamura & Jón Steinsson, 2008. "Five Facts about Prices: A Reevaluation of Menu Cost Models," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(4), pages 1415-1464.
    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. N. Berardi. & E. Gautier., 2016. "Adjustments in consumer prices in France in periods of low inflation," Quarterly selection of articles - Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 41, pages 51-65, spring.
    2. R. Cezar & A. Duguet & G. Gaulier & V. Vicard, 2017. "Competition for global value added: domestic and export market shares," Rue de la Banque, Banque de France, issue 36, january..
    3. N. Berardi. & E. Gautier., 2016. "Adjustments in consumer prices in France in periods of low inflation," Quarterly selection of articles - Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 41, pages 51-65, spring.
    4. Álvarez, Luis J. & Sánchez, Isabel, 2019. "Inflation projections for monetary policy decision making," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 568-585.
    5. S. Humbertclaude. & R. Lecat. & F. Monteil., 2016. "France’s national economic wealth declined by 1.8% in 2014," Quarterly selection of articles - Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 41, pages 41-49, spring.
    6. S. Avouyi-Dovi. & R. Lecat. & C. O’Donnell. & B. Bureau. & J.-P. Villetelle., 2016. "Corporate loans at particularly low rates in France," Quarterly selection of articles - Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 41, pages 27-39, spring.
    7. Juan Carlos Berganza & Pedro del Río & Fructuoso Borrallo, 2016. "Determinants and implications of low global inflation rates," Occasional Papers 1608, Banco de España.
    8. Guido Bulligan & Eliana Viviano, 2017. "Has the wage Phillips curve changed in the euro area?," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-22, December.
    9. Francesco D�Amuri & Silvia Fabiani & Roberto Sabbatini & Raffaele Tartaglia Polcini & Fabrizio Venditti & Eliana Viviano & Roberta Zizza, 2015. "Wages and prices in Italy during the crisis: the firms� perspective," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 289, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    10. S. Castor. & H. Caradant. & V. Chauvin. & T. Mosquera Yon., 2016. "France’s international trade in services," Quarterly selection of articles - Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 41, pages 17-26, spring.

    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. 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.
    2. M. Utku Özmen & Orhun Sevinç, 2016. "Price Rigidity in Turkey: Evidence from Micro Data," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(4), pages 1029-1045, April.
    3. Rongrong Sun, 2014. "Nominal rigidity and some new evidence on the New Keynesian theory of the output-inflation tradeoff," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 575-597, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Franz Ruch & Neil Rankin & Stan du Plessis, 2016. "Decomposing inflation using micropricelevel data South Africas pricing dynamics," Working Papers 7353, South African Reserve Bank.
    6. Bartosz Mackowiak & Frank Smets, 2008. "On implications of micro price data for macro models," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Eijffinger, Sylvester C. W. & Grajales-Olarte, Anderson & Uras, Burak R., 2020. "Heterogeneity In Wage Setting Behavior In A New-Keynesian Model," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(6), pages 1512-1546, September.
    10. Philip Vermeulen & Daniel A. Dias & Maarten Dossche & Erwan Gautier & Ignacio Hernando & Roberto Sabbatini & Harald Stahl, 2012. "Price Setting in the Euro Area: Some Stylized Facts from Individual Producer Price Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(8), pages 1631-1650, December.
    11. Ross D. Hickey & David S. Jacks, 2011. "Nominal rigidities and retail price dispersion in Canada over the twentieth century," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(3), pages 749-780, August.
    12. Fabio Rumler & Alfred Stiglbauer & Josef Baumgartner, 2011. "Patterns and Determinants of Price Changes: Analysing Individual Consumer Prices in Austria," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 12(3), pages 336-350, August.
    13. Berka, Martin & Devereux, Michael B. & Rudolph, Thomas, 2011. "Price setting in a leading Swiss online supermarket," Working Paper Series 18597, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    14. Sanvi Avouyi-Dovi & Denis Fougère & Erwan Gautier, 2013. "Wage Rigidity, Collective Bargaining, and the Minimum Wage: Evidence from French Agreement Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 1337-1351, October.
    15. 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.
    16. Enrique Martínez-García & Diego Vilán & Mark A. Wynne, 2012. "Bayesian Estimation of NOEM Models: Identification and Inference in Small Samples," Advances in Econometrics, in: DSGE Models in Macroeconomics: Estimation, Evaluation, and New Developments, pages 137-199, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    17. Jordi Galí, 2015. "Introduction," Introductory Chapters, in: Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle: An Introduction to the New Keynesian Framework and Its Applications Second edition, volume 1, Princeton University Press.
    18. Patrick Lünnemann & Thomas Y. Mathä, 2010. "Consumer price behaviour: evidence from Luxembourg micro data," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2-3), pages 177-192.
    19. Watanabe, Makoto, 2008. "Inflation, price competition, and consumer search technology," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 3780-3806, December.
    20. Mamello Amelia Nchake & Lawrence Edwards & Neil Rankin, 2015. "Price-Setting Behaviour in Lesotho: Stylised Facts from Consumer Retail Prices," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(2), pages 199-219, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    consumer prices; frequency of price adjustment; nominal flexibility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ecb:ecbwps:20172002. 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: Official Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emieude.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.