Staggering and synchronisation of prices in a low-inflation environment: Evidence from German food stores

Jens-Peter Loy and Christoph Weiss
Additional contact information
Jens-Peter Loy: Department of Agricultural Economics, Georg-August-University, Göttingen 37073, Germany. E-mail: jploy@web.de, Postal: Department of Agricultural Economics, Georg-August-University, Göttingen 37073, Germany. E-mail: jploy@web.de

Agribusiness, 2002, vol. 18, issue 4, 437-457

Abstract: Only a few studies have analysed staggering and synchronisation in pricing behaviour of multiproduct firms. These studies used low-frequency data in an environment of high rates of inflation. This article investigates staggering and synchronisation of weekly prices for 10 food products in 131 grocery stores in Germany over the period of May 1995 to December 2000 (296 weeks). Different forms of staggering and synchronisation (across-store synchronisation, within type-of-store synchronisation, within-retailer synchronisation, or across-product synchronisation) have been analysed. None of these forms of synchronisation is supported empirically, however. In contrast, perfect staggering can only be rejected in very few cases, indicating that fixed or firm-specific menu costs are not major causes for price stickiness. [JEL classification: L11, D40] © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Date: 2002
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/agr.10032 Link to full text; subscription required (text/html)

Related works:
Working Paper: STAGGERING AND SYNCHRONIZATION OF PRICES IN A LOW INFLATION ENVIRONMENT: EVIDENCE FROM GERMAN FOOD STORES (2002)
Working Paper: Staggering and Synchronisation of Prices in a Low Inflation Environment: Evidence from German Food Stores (2002)
Working Paper: Staggering and Synchronisation of Prices in a Low Inflation Environment: Evidence from German Food Stores (2002)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:agribz:v:18:y:2002:i:4:p:437-457

DOI: 10.1002/agr.10032

Access Statistics for this article

Agribusiness is currently edited by Ronald W. Cotterill

More articles in Agribusiness from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().