The price setting behaviour of Spanish firms: evidence from survey data

Luis Alvarez and Ignacio Hernando

No 537, Working Papers from Banco de España

Abstract: This paper reports the results of a survey carried out by the Banco de España on a sample of around 2000 Spanish firms to deepen the understanding of firms' price setting behaviour. The main findings may be summarised as follows. Most Spanish firms are price setters that use predominantly state dependent rules or a combination of time and state dependent rules when reviewing their prices. Changes in costs are the main factor underlying price increases, whereas changes in market conditions (demand and competitors' prices) are the main driving forces of price decreases. The degree of price flexibility is directly related to the share of energy inputs over total costs and to the intensity of competition, whereas it is inversely linked to the labour share. The three theories of price stickiness that receive the highest empirical support are implicit contracts, coordination failure and explicit contracts.

Keywords: price setting; price stickiness; survey data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D40 E31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 69 pages
Date: 2005-10
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (69)

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http://www.bde.es/f/webbde/SES/Secciones/Publicaci ... o/05/Fic/dt0537e.pdf First version, October 2005 (application/pdf)

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Working Paper: The price setting behaviour of Spanish firms: evidence from survey data (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bde:wpaper:0537

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