Author: Geoffrey Hoyt MoorePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Price indexes
Languages : en
Pages : 50
Book Description
The Cyclical Behavior of Prices
Author: Geoffrey Hoyt MoorePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Price indexes
Languages : en
Pages : 50
Book Description
The Cyclical Behavior of Prices and Costs
Author: Julio RotembergPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business cycles
Languages : en
Pages : 128
Book Description
Because inputs are scarce, marginal cost should be an increasing function of output. Without changes in this real marginal cost schedule, aggregate output can vary if and only if the markup of price over marginal cost varies. In this review, we discuss the extent to which observed fluctuations in aggregate economic activity depend upon such variations in average markups. We first study whether, empirically, real marginal cost rises in cyclical expansions. Average real labor cost is not very procyclical, but, for reasons such as overhead labor and adjustment costs, marginal labor cost should be more procyclical. Measures of marginal cost based on materials costs and inventories also appear procyclical. We next show that countercyclical markup variation may, depending upon how costs are modeled, account for a substantial fraction of cyclical output movements. We also show that the observed procyclical variations in productivity and profits are consistent with the hypothesis that cyclical variations in output are primarily due to markup variations than to shifts in the real marginal cost schedule. Finally, we survey theories of endogenous markup variation. These include both models of sticky and models in which firms' desired markup varies over time.
The Cyclical Behavior of Price and Costs
Author: Julio RotembergPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 107
Book Description
Because inputs are scarce, marginal cost is an increasing function of output. Diminishing returns, costs of increasing employment as well as the increasing marginal disutility of working when hours worked and effort rise all contribute to make this function steep. Without changes in this function relating marginal cost to output, aggregate output can vary if and only if the markup of price to marginal cost (the inverse of real marginal cost for typical firms) varies. We first study whether, empirically, real marginal cost does rise in cyclical expansions. Average real labor cost is not very pro-cyclical but, for several reasons, marginal labor cost is more procyclical than average labor cost. These include the presence of overhead labor and adjustment costs as well as differences between the marginal and average wage. These corrections results in procyclical measures of real marginal cost. Measures of marginal costs based on materials costs and inventories also appear procyclical. We show that these procyclical movements in marginal cost may, depending on how costs are modeled, account for a substantial fraction of cyclical output movements. Finally, we survey models of variable markups. These include both models of sticky prices (in which markups vary because firms cannot all costlessly charge the markup they desire) and models in which firms' desired markup varies over time. This set of models allows a rich set of variables to affect output even if these variables do not shift the marginal cost schedule.
Essays on the Cyclical Behavior of Cost and Price
Author: Mark Joseph BilsThe Cyclical Behavior of the Price-Cost Markup
Author: Christopher J. NekardaPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economics
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
A countercyclical markup of price over marginal cost is the key transmission mechanism for demand shocks in textbook New Keynesian (NK) models. This paper re-examines the foundation of those models. We study the cyclicality of markups in the private economy as well as in detailed manufacturing industries. First, we show that frameworks for measuring markups that have produced the strongest evidence for countercyclicality produce the opposite result when we substitute new methods and data. Second, because the NK model's predictions differ by the nature of the shock, we present evidence on the cyclicality of the markup conditional on various types of shocks. Consistent with the NK model, we find that markups are procyclical conditional on a technology shock. However, we find that they are either procyclical or acyclical conditional on demand shocks. Thus, the textbook NK explanation for the effects of government spending or monetary policy is not supported by the behavior of the markup.
The Cyclical Behavior [behaviour] of Prices
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Author: Geoffrey Hoyt MooreThe Cyclical Behavior of Prices
Author: Thomas F. CooleyThe Cyclical Behavior of Prices
Author: John P. JuddPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business cycles
Languages : en
Pages : 34
Book Description
Cyclical Pricing of Durable Goods
Author: Mark BilsPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business cycles
Languages : en
Pages : 76
Book Description
I examine price markups in monopolisticly-competitive markets that experience fluctuations in demand because the economy experiences cyclical fluctuations in productivity. Markups depend positively on the average income of purchasers in the market. For a nondurable good average income of purchasers is procyclical; so the markup is procyclical. For a durable good. however. the average income of purchasers is likely to decrease in booms because low income consumers of the good concentrate their purchases in boom periods; so the markup is likely countercyclical. This is particularly true for growing markets. I find markups make the aggregate economy fluctuate more in response to productivity if goods are sufficiently durable.
Cyclical Behavior of Prices and Quantities in the Automobile Market
Author: Olivier J. BlanchardPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Automobile industry and trade
Languages : en
Pages : 70
Book Description
This paper has a simple goal, that of understanding the joint behaviorof prices and quantities in a particular market. More precisely, it examines whether we can find decision problems for suppliers and buyers, together with a market equilibrium structure, which are consistent with the observed price and quantity time series. Because of the relative homogeneity of the product, of the size of the market, end of the quality of the data, the market chosen is the automobile market. The first conclusion we reach is that this goal is difficult to achieve. The behavior of prices appears inconsistent with simple -- competitive, monopolistically competitive or monopolistic -- market structures. Prices appear, in a well defined sense, to be too "sticky". We then consider potentiail explanations and extensions. None appears completely satisfactory. In particular, the introduction of costs of changing prices does not seem able to explain the joint behavior of prices and quantities