Resumen de Heterogeneous price dynamics, synchronization, and retail chains: : Evidence from scanner data

Andrés Elberg

• Using a novel scanner data set, I study price-setting decisions of major retailers in an emerging market economy. Pricing dynamics are heterogeneous across retail chains. Heterogeneity is especially pronounced in the case of posted (as opposed to reference) prices. Furthermore, retail chains appear to set prices in a centralized fashion: most barcode/store-level prices coincide with the intrachain modal price. The relationship between reference and chain-wide prices reveals that deviations from reference prices cannot be solely attributed to shocks to local market conditions. I find strong evidence of synchronization of price changes across stores within chains but weaker evidence of synchronization across retail chains