Fascinating new Fed paper out on the frequence of retail price changes back in 1889-1891 versus 1997-1999. The upshot:
The 1889-1891 microdata price quotes show:
- a lower frequency of price changes;
- a smaller average magnitude of price changes;
- fewer “small” price changes; and,
- fewer temporary price reductions
The paper goes on to argue that this has a lot to do with the falling cost of changing prices in retail, driven, in part, by large stores and industry concentration, but I would cite dramatic changes in pricing-technology itself.
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