01949cas a2200265 a 4500 AALejournalIMF012109 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781475505573 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Coibion, Olivier. The Cyclicality of Sales, Regular and Effective Prices : Business Cycle and Policy Implications / Olivier Coibion, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, Gee Hee Hong. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2012. 1 online resource (75 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students We study the cyclical properties of sales, regular price changes and average prices paid by consumers ("effective" prices) in a dataset containing prices and quantities sold for numerous retailers across a variety of U.S. metropolitan areas. Both the frequency and size of sales fall when local unemployment rates rise and yet the inflation rate for effective prices paid by consumers declines significantly with higher unemployment. This discrepancy can be reconciled by consumers reallocating their expenditures across retailers, a feature of the data which we document and quantify. We propose a simple model with household shopping effort and store-switching consistent with these stylized facts and document its implications for business cycles and policymakers. Mode of access: Internet Gorodnichenko, Yuriy. Hong, Gee Hee. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2012/207 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2012/207/001.2012.issue-207-en.xml IMF e-Library