TY  - JOUR
AU  - Chevalier,Judith A.
AU  - Kashyap,Anil K.
AU  - Rossi,Peter E.
TI  - Why Don't Prices Rise During Periods of Peak Demand? Evidence from Scanner Data
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7981
PY  - 2000
Y2  - October 2000
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7981
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7981.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Judith A. Chevalier
Yale School of Management
135 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT  06520
Tel: 203/432-3122
Fax: NA
E-Mail: judith.chevalier@yale.edu

Anil Kashyap
Booth School of Business
University of Chicago
5807 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/702-7260
Fax: 773/702-0458
E-Mail: anil.kashyap@chicagobooth.edu
AB  - We examine the retail prices and wholesale prices of a large supermarket chain in Chicago over seven and one-half years.  We show that prices tend to fall during the seasonal demand peak for a product and that changes in retail margins account for most of those price changes; thus we add to the growing body of evidence that markups are counter-cyclical.  The pattern of margin changes that we observe is consistent with  loss leader' models such as the Lal and Matutes (1994) model of retailer pricing and advertising competition.  Other models of imperfect competition are less consistent with retailer behavior.  Manufacturer behavior plays a more limited role in the counter-cyclicality of prices.
ER  -