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Why Don't Prices Fall in a Recession? Financial Constraints, Investment, and Customer Relations

Author

Listed:
  • Bucht, Charlotte

    (Ministry of Finance)

  • Gottfries, Nils

    (Department of Economics)

  • Lundin, Magnus

    (Department of Economics)

Abstract

We construct a model of a financially constrained firm making pricing and investment decisions. The firm operates in a market where customers respond slowly to price changes and there are implementation lags in investment (time to build). Our model implies that the markup over marginal cost is counter-cyclical, the product price responds slowly to demand shocks, and quickly to cost shocks, and the price is strongly related to investment. Estimating the decision rules on aggregate data for Swedish industry, we find that the qualitative results are in line with our model.

Suggested Citation

  • Bucht, Charlotte & Gottfries, Nils & Lundin, Magnus, 2002. "Why Don't Prices Fall in a Recession? Financial Constraints, Investment, and Customer Relations," Working Paper Series 2002:3, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2002_003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Simon Gilchrist & Raphael Schoenle & Jae Sim & Egon Zakrajšek, 2017. "Inflation Dynamics during the Financial Crisis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(3), pages 785-823, March.
    2. Lindblad, Hans & Sellin, Peter, 2003. "The Equilibrium Rate of Unemployment and the Real Exchange Rate: An Unobserved Components System Approach," Working Paper Series 152, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    3. Gilchrist, Simon & Schoenle, Raphael & Sim, Jae & Zakrajšek, Egon, 2023. "Financial heterogeneity and monetary union," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 21-40.
    4. Lundin, Magnus & Gottfries, Nils & Lindström, Tomas, 2004. "Price and Investment Dynamics: An Empirical Analysis of Plant Level Data," Working Paper Series 2004:7, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    5. Chrysovalantis Amountzias, 2021. "Markup cyclicality, competition and liquidity constraints: Evidence from a panel VAR analysis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3696-3718, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    customer market; price rigidity; price equation; investment equation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy

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