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Why do prices remain stable in the bubble and bust period?

Kimura, Takeshi

Why do prices remain stable in the bubble and bust period? created Takeshi Kimura - International economic journal. Volume 27, number 2 .

In spite of a large swing in real output growth in the bubble and bust period, aggregate prices remained relatively stable in Japan. Empirical results show that such price rigidity can be explained by the customer market model combined with financial constraints. The degree of financial constraints that firms face in the bubble and bust period fluctuates significantly, and the impact of financial positions on firms’ prices is counter-cyclical. In booms, liquidity-abundant firms invest in market share by keeping prices down, while in a recession financially constrained firms charge a high price to locked-in customers who remain loyal. Such counter-cyclicality is clearly observed in the pricing behavior of large firms that produce differentiated goods. In contrast, small firms whose product brand is not well established in the market cannot lock in customers, and hence financial constraints do not affect their pricing decisions.

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Customer market theory--Price stickiness--Price rigidity, Financial constraints

HB1A1 INT