Asymmetric price rigidity and the responsiveness of customers to price changes: The case of deposit interest rates

This article examines differences in the level and type of price rigidity as it applies to different types of deposits offered by commercial banks. Numerous characteristics of the data set employed make it ideally suited for such an investigation. Three basic findings are presented. First, the degree of price rigidity observed for a product varies systematically with the quantity response to a price change likely to be exhibited by customers,with greater rigidity associated with less customer responsiveness. Second, price rigidity is asymmetric in the sense that greater rigidity is observed for upward movements in deposit rates than for downward changes. Finally, this observed asymmetry appears to be greater for cases in which customers are likely to exhibit less of a quantity response to a change in deposit rates.