[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/boe/boeewp/67.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How do UK companies set prices?

Author

Listed:
  • Simon Hall
  • Mark Walsh
  • Anthony Yates
Abstract
This paper reports the main results of a survey carried out by the Bank in the autumn of 1995 of the price-setting behaviour of 654 UK companies. It elaborates on an article in the May 1996 Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin. In the year preceding the survey, the average company reviewed its prices once a month. The extent and source of price rigidity varied across different types of company and market. Retailers reviewed and changed their prices more frequently than manufacturers. Companies operating in more competitive markets reviewed prices more often than companies with few direct competitors; but long-term relationships with customers appeared to reduce price flexibility. Despite the frequency of reviews, actual prices were only changed twice on average, indicating that there may be substantial costs of changing prices. Companies stated that the need to preserve customer relationships (due to explicit or implicit contractual arrangements) or to maintain market share were important sources of price rigidity. In addition, the overwhelming majority of companies indicated that they would be more likely to increase overtime and capacity than change their price in response to a boom in demand. There were substantial asymmetries in the factors which drive prices up and those that push prices down. Time-dependent pricing rules appeared to be much more widespread than state-dependent pricing rules, suggesting that the short-run real effects of monetary policy could increase at lower rates of inflation. Overall, the survey results indicate that UK markets do not behave as if prices are costlessly and instantaneously determined. It appears that uncertainty about the extent or permanence of changes in market conditions combined with costs of adjusting prices means that many companies' short-run response to a change in demand is to adjust output rather than price. Taking account of such behaviour could be important in explaining the short-run real effects of monetary policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Hall & Mark Walsh & Anthony Yates, 1997. "How do UK companies set prices?," Bank of England working papers 67, Bank of England.
    • Handle: RePEc:boe:boeewp:67
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/archive/Documents/historicpubs/workingpapers/1997/wp67.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anil K Kashyap, 1995. "Sticky Prices: New Evidence from Retail Catalogs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(1), pages 245-274.
    2. N. Gregory Mankiw, 1985. "Small Menu Costs and Large Business Cycles: A Macroeconomic Model of Monopoly," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(2), pages 529-538.
    3. George A. Akerlof & Janet L. Yellen, 1985. "A Near-Rational Model of the Business Cycle, with Wage and Price Inertia," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(Supplemen), pages 823-838.
    4. Andrew S. Caplin & Daniel F. Spulber, 1987. "Menu Costs and the Neutrality of Money," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(4), pages 703-725.
    5. repec:bla:econom:v:59:y:1992:i:236:p:403-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Laurence Ball & David Romer, 1989. "The Equilibrium and Optimal Timing of Price Changes," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 56(2), pages 179-198.
    7. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1987. "The Causes and Consequences of the Dependence of Quality on Price," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 1-48, March.
    8. Haskel, Jonathan & Kersley, Barbara & Martin, Christopher, 1997. "Labour Market Flexibility and Employment Adjustment: Micro Evidence from UK Establishments," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(3), pages 362-379, July.
    9. G. K. Shaw, 1988. "Keynesian Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 406.
    10. Blinder, Alan S, 1991. "Why Are Prices Sticky? Preliminary Results from an Interview Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 89-96, May.
    11. Carlton, Dennis W, 1986. "The Rigidity of Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 637-658, September.
    12. Bev Dahlby, 1992. "Price Adjustment in an Automobile Insurance Market: A Test of the Sheshinski-Weiss Model," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 25(3), pages 564-583, August.
    13. Caballero, Ricardo J & Engel, Eduardo M R A, 1991. "Dynamic (S, s) Economies," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(6), pages 1659-1686, November.
    14. Akerlof, George A & Yellen, Janet L, 1985. "Can Small Deviations from Rationality Make Significant Differences to Economic Equilibria?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 708-720, September.
    15. Anthony Yates & Bryan Chapple, 1996. "What Determines the Short-run Output-Inflation Trade-off?," Bank of England working papers 53, Bank of England.
    16. repec:fth:harver:1418 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Russell Cooper & Andrew John, 1988. "Coordinating Coordination Failures in Keynesian Models," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(3), pages 441-463.
    18. Eytan Sheshinski & Yoram Weiss, 1977. "Inflation and Costs of Price Adjustment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(2), pages 287-303.
    19. George J. Stigler & James K. Kindahl, 1970. "The Behavior of Industrial Prices," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number stig70-1.
    20. Simon Hall & Anthony Yates, 1998. "Are there downward nominal rigidities in product markets?," Bank of England working papers 80, Bank of England.
    21. Hasan Bakhshi & Andrew Haldane & Neal Hatch, 1999. "Some Costs and Benefits of Price Stability in the United Kingdom," NBER Chapters, in: The Costs and Benefits of Price Stability, pages 133-198, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Blinder, Alan S, 1982. "Inventories and Sticky Prices: More on the Microfoundations of Macroeconomics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(3), pages 334-348, June.
    23. Eytan Sheshinski & Yoram Weiss, 1983. "Optimum Pricing Policy under Stochastic Inflation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 50(3), pages 513-529.
    24. Blanchard, Olivier Jean, 1990. "Why does money affect output? A survey," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: B. M. Friedman & F. H. Hahn (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 15, pages 779-835, Elsevier.
    25. Gordon, Robert J, 1981. "Output Fluctuations and Gradual Price Adjustment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 19(2), pages 493-530, June.
    26. Morten Ravn & Martin Sola, 1996. "A Reconsideration of the Empirical Evidence on the Asymmetric Effects of Money-supply shocks: Positive vs. Negative or Big vs. Small," Archive Discussion Papers 9606, Birkbeck, Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics.
    27. Robert E. Hall, 1986. "Market Structure and Macroeconomic Fluctuations," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 17(2), pages 285-338.
    28. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Price Rigidities and Market Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(2), pages 350-355, May.
    29. J. Bradford De Long & Lawrence H. Summers, "undated". "How Does Macroeconomic Policy Matter?," J. Bradford De Long's Working Papers _130, University of California at Berkeley, Economics Department.
    30. Godley, Wynne A H & Nordhaus, William D, 1972. "Pricing in the Trade Cycle," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 82(327), pages 853-882, September.
    31. R. L. Hall & C. J. Hitch, 1939. "Price Theory And Business Behaviour," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 0(1), pages 12-45.
    32. James Peery Cover, 1992. "Asymmetric Effects of Positive and Negative Money-Supply Shocks," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(4), pages 1261-1282.
    33. Robert J. Barro, 1972. "A Theory of Monopolistic Price Adjustment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 39(1), pages 17-26.
    34. Olivier J. Blanchard, 1982. "Price Asynchronization and Price Level Inertia," NBER Working Papers 0900, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    35. Rotemberg, Julio J & Saloner, Garth, 1986. "A Supergame-Theoretic Model of Price Wars during Booms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(3), pages 390-407, June.
    36. Milton Friedman & Anna J. Schwartz, 1963. "A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number frie63-1.
    37. Roger Gordon, 2006. "Editor, Journal of Economic Literature," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 510-511, May.
    38. Ball, Laurence & Romer, David, 1991. "Sticky Prices as Coordination Failure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(3), pages 539-552, June.
    39. Kahneman, Daniel & Knetsch, Jack L & Thaler, Richard, 1986. "Fairness as a Constraint on Profit Seeking: Entitlements in the Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 728-741, September.
    40. Fischer, Stanley, 1977. "Long-Term Contracts, Rational Expectations, and the Optimal Money Supply Rule," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(1), pages 191-205, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Fabiani, S. & Druant, M. & Hernando, I. & Kwapil, C. & Landau, B. & Loupias, C. & Martins, F. & Mathä, T. & Sabbatini, R. & Stahl, H. & Stockman, A., 2005. "The Pricing Behaviour of Firms in the Euro Area: New Survey Evidence," Working papers 135, Banque de France.
    2. Silvia Fabiani & Martine Druant & Ignacio Hernando & Claudia Kwapil & Bettina Landau & Claire Loupias & Fernando Martins & Thomas Mathä & Roberto Sabbatini & Harald Stahl & Ad Stokman, 2006. "What Firms' Surveys Tell Us about Price-Setting Behavior in the Euro Area," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 2(3), September.
    3. 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.
    4. Carlos Borondo, 1994. "La rigidez nominal de los precios de la Nueva Economía Keynesiana: una panorámica," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 18(2), pages 245-288, May.
    5. Alexander L. Wolman, 2007. "The frequency and costs of individual price adjustment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 531-552.
    6. 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.
    7. Richards, Timothy J. & Patterson, Paul M., 2004. "Causes of retail price fixity: an empirical analysis," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 117-136.
    8. Slade, Margaret E., 1999. "Sticky prices in a dynamic oligopoly: An investigation of (s,S) thresholds," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 477-511, May.
    9. Martha Misas A. & Enrique López E. & Juan Carlos Parra A., 2013. "Price Formation in Colombian Firms: Evidence Gathered from a Direct Survey," Investigación Conjunta-Joint Research, in: Laura Inés D'Amato & Enrique López Enciso & María Teresa Ramírez Giraldo (ed.), Inflationary Dynamics, Persistence, and Prices and Wages Formation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 251-321, Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos, CEMLA.
    10. Choudhary, M. Ali & Faheem, Abdul & Hanif, M. Nadim & Naeem, Saima & Pasha, Farooq, 2016. "Price setting & price stickiness: A developing economy perspective," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 44-61.
    11. Erwan Gautier, 2009. "Les ajustements microéconomiques des prix : une synthèse des modèles théoriques et résultats empiriques," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 119(3), pages 323-372.
    12. Ricardo J. Caballero & Eduardo M. R. A. Engel, 1993. "Heterogeneity and Output Fluctuations in a Dynamic Menu-Cost Economy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 95-119.
    13. S. Bertarelli, 1999. "Nominal Rigidities in a Mail Order Company: Estimation of the Probability of Price Adjustment," Working Papers 349, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    14. Laura Inés D'Amato & Enrique López Enciso & María Teresa Ramírez Giraldo (ed.), 2013. "Inflationary Dynamics, Persistence, and Prices and Wages Formation," Investigación Conjunta-Joint Research, Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos, CEMLA, edition 1, volume 1, number 2en, December.
    15. Levy, Daniel & Müller, Georg & Chen, Haipeng (Allan) & Bergen, Mark & Dutta, Shantanu, 2010. "Holiday Price Rigidity and Cost of Price Adjustment," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 77(305), pages 172-198.
    16. Emi Nakamura & Jón Steinsson, 2010. "Monetary Non-neutrality in a Multisector Menu Cost Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 961-1013.
    17. Russell Cooper & Andrew John, 2000. "Imperfect competition and macroeconomics : Theory and quantitative implications," Cahiers d'Économie Politique, Programme National Persée, vol. 37(1), pages 289-328.
    18. Zakaria Babutsidze, 2012. "Asymmetric (S,s) Pricing: Implications for Monetary Policy," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(5), pages 177-204.
    19. Dutta, Shantanu & Bergen, Mark & Levy, Daniel, 2002. "Price Flexibility in Channels of Distribution: Evidence from Scanner Data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 26(11), pages 1845-1900.
    20. Mark J. Zbaracki & Mark Ritson & Daniel Levy & Shantanu Dutta & Mark Bergen, 2004. "Managerial and Customer Costs of Price Adjustment: Direct Evidence from Industrial Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 514-533, May.

    More about this item

    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:boe:boeewp:67. 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: Digital Media Team (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/boegvuk.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.