The frequency of price adjustment: A study of the newsstand prices of magazines

Data on the newsstand prices of American magazines is used to investigate the determinants of the frequency of nominal price change. Magazine price changes, often coming after real prices have fallen by one quarter, provide strong evidence for monopolistic sticky price models. The data is examined by applying a fixed effects logit specification to the price change rule implied by a target-threshold model of a firm facing general price inflation, an uncertain future and costly nominal adjustment. The essay concludes that higher inflation leads to more frequent price adjustment and that the real cost of price changes varies with the size of a real price change.