TY  - JOUR
AU  - Genesove,David
TI  - The Nominal Rigidity of Apartment Rents
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7137
PY  - 1999
Y2  - May 1999
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7137
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7137.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
David Genesove
Department of Economics
Faculty of Social Sciences
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905  ISRAEL
Tel: 972-2-5883128
Fax: 972-2-5816071
E-Mail: genesove@mscc.huji.ac.il
AB  - This paper contributes to the empirical literature on price stickiness by documenting a high rate of nominal rigidity among apartment rents in the U.S. between 1974-1981.  29 percent of units had no change in nominal rent from year to year.  Nominal rigidity was much higher among units whose tenants continued from the previous year, than those in which the tenant turned over. This suggests that the previous year's nominal price was used as a focal point in bargaining.  Most of the nominal rigidity among units that turned over can be ascribed to grid pricing, while most of the incidence among the units that did not turn over can not be thus explained, and probably reflects downward rigidity instead.  Units in single-unit and small buildings were much more likely to display nominal rigidity.
ER  -