Retail prices during a change in monetary regimes: evidence from Sears, Roebuck catalogs, 1938–1951
✍ Scribed by Andrew T. Young; Alexander K. Blue
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 181 KB
- Volume
- 28
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0143-6570
- DOI
- 10.1002/mde.1378
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
We present microeconomic evidence on US pricing dynamics pre and post‐establishment of the Bretton Woods (BW) monetary regime. We track prices of 49 goods (1172 observations) in 1938–1951 Sears, Roebuck catalogs. The average length between (nominal) price changes was over 2 years. The average was higher (2.05 years) in the pre‐BW period than in the later (2.01 years). We find that prices of brand name goods were relatively rigid; three never changed price. Price changes were larger during the 1945–1951 period than pre‐BW by between 0.60 and 1.83%. Price changes displayed a higher correlation with inflation pre‐BW. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.