Stylised features of price setting behaviour in Portugal: 1992-2001

Abstract

This paper identifies the empirical stylized features of price setting behaviour in Portugal using the micro-datasets underlying the consumer and the producer price indexes. The main conclusions are the following: 1 in every 4 prices change each month; there is a considerable degree of heterogeneity in price setting practices; consumer prices of goods change more often than consumer prices of services; producer prices of consumption goods vary more often than producer prices of intermediate goods; for comparable commodities, consumer prices change more often than producer prices; price reductions are common, as they account for around 40 per cent of total price changes; price changes are, in general, sizeable; finally, the price setting patterns at the consumer level seem to depend on the level of inflation as well as on the type of outlet. JEL Classification: E31, E32, L11consumer prices, frequency of price changes, price setting, producer prices