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Competitiveness, market power and price stickiness: A paradox and a resolution

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  • Jean-Pascal Bénassy

    (CEPREMAP - Centre pour la recherche économique et ses applications - ECO ENS-PSL - Département d'économie de l'ENS-PSL - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, PJSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Are prices less sticky when markets are more competitive? Our intuition would naturally lead us to give an affirmative answer to that question. But we first show that DSGE models with staggered price or wage contracts have actually the opposite and paradoxical property, namely that price stickiness is an increasing function of competitiveness. To eliminate this paradox, we next study a model where monopolistic competitors choose prices optimally subject to a cost of changing prices as in Rotemberg (1982a,b). For a given cost function, we find the more intuitive result that more competitiveness leads to more flexible prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Pascal Bénassy, 2005. "Competitiveness, market power and price stickiness: A paradox and a resolution," PSE Working Papers halshs-00590559, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00590559
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00590559
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