Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/205238 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal of Monetary Economics [ISSN:] 0304-3932 [Issue:] forthcoming [Publisher:] Elsevier [Place:] Amsterdam [Year:] 2020
Publisher: 
Elsevier, Amsterdam
Abstract: 
We document an asymmetry in the rigidity of 9-ending prices relative to non-9-ending prices. Consumers have difficulty noticing higher prices if they are 9-ending, or noticing price-increases if the new prices are 9-ending, because 9-endings are used as a signal for low prices. Price setters respond strategically to the consumer-heuristic by setting 9-ending prices more often after price-increases than after price-decreases. 9-ending prices, therefore, remain 9-ending more often after price-increases than after price-decreases, leading to asymmetric rigidity: 9-ending prices are more rigid upward than downward. These findings hold for both transaction-prices and regular-prices, and for both inflation and no-inflation periods.
Subjects: 
Asymmetric Price Adjustment
Sticky/Rigid Prices
9-Ending Prices
Psychological Prices
Price Points
Regular/Sale Prices
JEL: 
L16
C91
E31
C93
D80
M31
Published Version’s DOI: 
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Manuscript Version (Preprint)
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