Analyzing a large weekly retail transaction price dataset, we uncover a surprising regularity small price increases occur more frequently than small price decreases for price changes of up to about 10 cents, while there is no such asymmetry for larger price changes. The asymmetry holds for the...

Asymmetric pricing is the phenomenon where prices rise more readily than they fall. We articulate, and provide empirical support for, a theory of asymmetric pricing in wholesale prices. In particular, we show how wholesale prices may be asymmetric in the small but symmetric in the large, when...

The Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday period is a major sales period for U.S. retailers. Due to higher store traffic, tasks such as restocking shelves, handling customers' questions and inquiries, running cash registers, cleaning, and bagging, become more urgent during holidays. As a result, the...

We study the link between price points and price rigidity, using two datasets - weekly scanner data and Internet data. We find that (i) 9 is the most frequently used price-ending for the penny, dime, dollar, and ten-dollar digits, (ii) the most common price changes are those that keep the price...