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Cyclical Pricing of Durable Goods

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  • Mark Bils

Abstract

I examine price markups in monopolisticly-competitive markets that experience fluctuations in demand because the economy experiences cyclical fluctuations in productivity. Markups depend positively on the average income of purchasers in the market. For a nondurable good average income of purchasers is procyclical; so the markup is procyclical. For a durable good. however. the average income of purchasers is likely to decrease in booms because low income consumers of the good concentrate their purchases in boom periods; so the markup is likely countercyclical. This is particularly true for growing markets. I find markups make the aggregate economy fluctuate more in response to productivity if goods are sufficiently durable.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Bils, 1989. "Cyclical Pricing of Durable Goods," NBER Working Papers 3050, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3050
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    Cited by:

    1. Kala Krishna & Cemile Yavas, 2004. "Lumpy consumer durables, market power, and endogenous business cycles," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(2), pages 375-391, May.
    2. Young, Andrew T. & Levy, Daniel, 2014. "Explicit Evidence of an Implicit Contract," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 30(4), pages 804-832.
    3. Michael J. Hicks, 2007. "Hierarchical delays as a source of nominal price rigidities: evidence from the microcomputer industry," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(7), pages 803-815.
    4. Ignacio Fuentes & Teresa Sastre, 1999. "Mergers and Acquisitions in the Spanish Banking Industry: some Empirical Evidence," Working Papers 9924, Banco de España.
    5. Dexter, Albert S. & Levi, Maurice D. & Nault, Barrie R., 2002. "Sticky prices: the impact of regulation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 797-821, May.
    6. Kala Krishna & Cemile Yavas, 2004. "Lumpy consumer durables, market power, and endogenous business cycles," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 37(2), pages 375-391, May.
    7. Ernst R. Berndt & Ann F. Friedlaender & Judy Shaw-Er Wang Chiang, 1990. "Interdependent Pricing and Markup Behavior: An Empirical Analysis of GM, Ford and Chrysler," NBER Working Papers 3396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Huang, MeiChi, 2012. "Housing deep-habit model: Mutual implications of macroeconomics and asset pricing," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(3), pages 526-530.
    9. Hillen, Judith & Fedoseeva, Svetlana, 2021. "E-commerce and the end of price rigidity?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 63-73.

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