Rising inflation in the wake of unprecedented debt financed stimulus packages raises concerns about a looming return of persistent inflation, as governments may be tempted to monetize debt. In this paper, we ask whether governments can use real (TIPS) bonds as part of the government debt...

Inflation is painful, for firms, customers, employees, and society. But careful study of periods of hyperinflation point to ways that firms can adapt. In particular, companies need to think about how to change prices regularly and cheaply — because constant price changes can ultimately be...

Inflation is painful, for firms, customers, employees, and society. But careful study of periods of hyperinflation point to ways that firms can adapt. In particular, companies need to think about how to change prices regularly and cheaply - because constant price changes can ultimately be very,...

Inflation is painful, for firms, customers, employees, and society. But careful study of periods of hyperinflation point to ways that firms can adapt. In particular, companies need to think about how to change prices regularly and cheaply - because constant price changes can ultimately be very,...

We use micro level retail price data from convenience stores to study the link between 0-ending price points and price rigidity during a period of a runaway inflation, when the annual inflation rate was in the range of 60%–430%. Surprisingly, we find that more round prices are less likely to...

Analyses of a large retail scanner price data set reveal a new and surprising regularity – small price increases occur more frequently than small price decreases for price changes of up to 10¢. That is, we find asymmetric price adjustment “in the small.” Furthermore, it turns out that...

There are methods to match value added approaches (Residual Income Method, RIM and Economic Value Added, EVA) with discounted cash flow methods, DCF. In this note we use a real life case from an emerging country to illustrate the matching, with complexities such as unpaid taxes, losses carried...

This paper documents some of the main features of price setting behaviour by retail outlets in Lesotho over the period March 2002 to December 2009. The sample of data covers 229 product items for 345 retail outlets. The paper has three main objectives. Firstly, it presents key indicators of...

This paper analyzes price formation and dynamics according to the industry structure. It divides manufacturing industries of Mexico into two groups: perfectly and imperfectly competitive. The results show that imperfectly competitive industries predominate. Then this classification is used to...

Market power exercised by firms has become central to macroeconomics. Recent theoretical work highlights the importance of the relation between market power and inflation. We examine this relation for individual firms in eleven U.S. industries. Our econometric framework exploits restrictions...