Overview

This book collects results from ad hoc surveys on firms pricing behavior conducted in 2003 and 2004 by nine National central banks of the Euro area in the context of a joint research project (Eurosystem Inflation Persistence Network). These surveys have proved to be an efficient way to test theories on the pricing strategies of economic agents, documenting, in qualitative terms, the underlying rationale of the observed pricing patterns. The book provides an unprecedented amount of information from more than 11,000 euro area firms, addressing issues such as the relevance of nominal and real rigidities, the information set used by firms in the price setting process, the strategy followed to review prices, the frequency of both price reviews and price changes, the reasons underlying price stickiness, and asymmetries in price adjustment. It also compares results for the euro area to those obtained for other countries by similar studies. Finally, it draws the main implications for theoretical modeling and for monetary policy.

Full Product Details

Author:   Silvia Fabiani (Economist, Economist, Bank of Italy) ,  Claire Loupias (Economist, Research Directorate, Economist, Research Directorate, Bank of France) ,  Fernando Martins (Research Economist, Research Economist, Bank of Portugal) ,  Roberto Sabbatini (Research Department, Research Department, Bank of Italy)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 23.60cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 16.00cm
Weight:   0.655kg
ISBN:  

9780195309287

ISBN 10:   0195309286
Pages:   312
Publication Date:   12 July 2007
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Ignazio Angeloni: Foreword Contributors Introduction Part I: Firms' Pricing Behavior in the Euro Area: An Overview 1: Stephen G. Cecchetti, Fernando Martins, Roberto Sabbatini, & Harald Stahl: The Use of Survey Data to Investigate Price Setting: Theory and the Research Design for the Euro Area 2: Silvia Fabiani, Claire Loupias, Martine Druant, Ignacio Hernando, Claudia Kwapil, Bettina Landau, Fernando Martins, Thomas Mathä, Roberto Sabbatini, Harald Stahl, & Ad Stokman: Summary of Results for the Euro Area Part II: Country-Specific Findings 3: Claudia Kwapil, Josef Baumgartner, & Johann Scharler: Price Reactions to Demand and Cost Shocks: Survey Evidence from Austrian Firms 4: Luc Aucremanne & Martine Druant: Why Are Prices Sticky? Evidence from an Ad Hoc Survey in Belgium 5: Claire Loupias & Roland Ricart: Asymmetries in Price Setting: Some Evidence from French Survey Data 6: Price Setting in German Manufacturing: Evidence from New Survey Data 7: Silvia Fabiani, Angela Gattulli, & Roberto Sabbatini: The Pricing Behavior of Italian Firms: New Survey Evidence on Price Stickiness 8: Patrick Lünnemann & Thomas Mathä: A Survey of Price-Setting Practices of Luxembourg Firms 9: Marco Hoeberichts & Ad Stockman: The Pricing Behavior of Dutch Firms: Survey Evidence on Price Stickiness 10: Fernando Martins: How Portuguese Firms Set Their Prices: Evidence from Survey Data 11: Luis J. Álvarez & Ignacio Hernando: The Pricing Behavior of Spanish Firms Part III: Comparative Analysis 12: Patrick Lunnemann & Thomas Matha: A Comparison Based on International Survey Evidence 13: Luis J. Álvarez & Ignacio Hernando: Competition and Price Adjustment in the Euro Area 14: Roberto Santini, Luis J. Álvarez, Emmanuel Dhyne, Marco Hoeberichts, Herv´e Le Bihan, Patrick Lünnemann, Fernando Martins, Fabio Rumler, Harald Stahl, Philop Vermeulen, Giovanni Veronese, & Jouko Vilmunen: What Quantitative Micro Data Reveal about Price Setting Behavior Part IV: Concluding Remarks and Implications 15: Vítor Gaspar, Andrew Levin, Fernando Martins, & Frank Smets: Policy Lessons and Directions for Ongoing Research Appendix: The National Questionnaires Index

Reviews

Knowing how firms set prices is crucial for central banks because it helps them understand the dynamics of aggregate inflation and throws light on how monetary impulses get transmitted through the economic system. Pricing Decisions in the Euro Area: How Firms Set Prices and Why is the first genuine attempt to document via direct surveys the mechanisms behind pricing decision of a large sample of entrepreneurs across a vast economic region. The book offers an unprecedented wealth of comparable microeconomic data and a key to interpret them, highlighting differences in pricing strategies among sectors, firm sizes and countries in the euro area, based on information that comes straight from the horse's mouth. It is a must-read for scholars and policymakers alike-a truly privileged observatory of how market forces at the micro level interact and contribute to macroeconomic outcomes. Two thumbs up. --Nicoletta Batini, International Monetary Fund<br> More than 11,000 interviews of euro area firms and a thorough examination of individual micro data on consumer and producer prices allow the book to shed new light on price setting behavior. The extent and coverage of the project, the wealth of information contained in this book and the relevance of its results make its reading extremely rewarding for researchers and policy makers alike. The importance of mark-up pricing is confirmed and we learn that customer relations and coordination failures are more important for price reviews and actual changes than menu and information processing costs. --Ignazio Visco, Deputy Director General of the Bank of Italy, former Chief Economist of the OECD<br>

<br> Knowing how firms set prices is crucial for central banks because it helps them understand the dynamics of aggregate inflation and throws light on how monetary impulses get transmitted through the economic system. Pricing Decisions in the Euro Area: How Firms Set Prices and Why is the first genuine attempt to document via direct surveys the mechanisms behind pricing decision of a large sample of entrepreneurs across a vast economic region. The book offers an unprecedented wealth of comparable microeconomic data and a key to interpret them, highlighting differences in pricing strategies among sectors, firm sizes and countries in the euro area, based on information that comes straight from the horse's mouth. It is a must-read for scholars and policymakers alike-a truly privileged observatory of how market forces at the micro level interact and contribute to macroeconomic outcomes. Two thumbs up. --Nicoletta Batini, International Monetary Fund<p><br> More than 11,000 interviews of euro area firms and a thorough examination of individual micro data on consumer and producer prices allow the book to shed new light on price setting behavior. The extent and coverage of the project, the wealth of information contained in this book and the relevance of its results make its reading extremely rewarding for researchers and policy makers alike. The importance of mark-up pricing is confirmed and we learn that customer relations and coordination failures are more important for price reviews and actual changes than menu and information processing costs. --Ignazio Visco, Deputy Director General of the Bank of Italy, former Chief Economist of the OECD<p><br>

Knowing how firms set prices is crucial for central banks because it helps them understand the dynamics of aggregate inflation and throws light on how monetary impulses get transmitted through the economic system. Pricing Decisions in the Euro Area: How Firms Set Prices and Why is the first genuine attempt to document via direct surveys the mechanisms behind pricing decision of a large sample of entrepreneurs across a vast economic region. The book offers an unprecedented wealth of comparable microeconomic data and a key to interpret them, highlighting differences in pricing strategies among sectors, firm sizes and countries in the euro area, based on information that comes straight from the horse's mouth. It is a must-read for scholars and policymakers alike-a truly privileged observatory of how market forces at the micro level interact and contribute to macroeconomic outcomes. Two thumbs up. --Nicoletta Batini, International Monetary Fund More than 11,000 interviews of euro area firms and a thorough examination of individual micro data on consumer and producer prices allow the book to shed new light on price setting behavior. The extent and coverage of the project, the wealth of information contained in this book and the relevance of its results make its reading extremely rewarding for researchers and policy makers alike. The importance of mark-up pricing is confirmed and we learn that customer relations and coordination failures are more important for price reviews and actual changes than menu and information processing costs. --Ignazio Visco, Deputy Director General of the Bank of Italy, former Chief Economist of the OECD

Author Information

Silvia Fabiani is a senior economist at the Research Department of Banca d'Italia. Her recent research involves monitoring and forecasting the short-term developments of inflation in Italy and the euro area, styding long-term price dynamics and its determinants, and analyzing structural issues concerning price setting across countries and sectors. Claire Loupias was a senior economist at teh Research Department of Banque de France while writing this book. She is now Assistant Professor at EPEE, Universite d'Evry (France). Her recent research involves the analysis of price setting. She has worked in various fields such as the monetary transmission mechanism and population aging. Fernando Martins is a senior economist at the Research Department of the Banco de Portugal. The implementation of monetary policy under uncertainty and the analysis of price stickiness based on survey data are his most recent topics of research. He is also Professor of Statistics and Data Analysis at the Universidade Lusiada of Lisbon. Roberto Sabbatini is a senior economist at the Research Department of Banca d'Italia. His recent research involves the short-term analysis of the Italian economy and that of the euro area, including forecasting, the analysis of the inflationary process and its determinants, and the impact of the euro cash changeover on consumer prices in Italy as well as in the euro area.

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