Shared Price Trends: Evidence From U.S. Cities and OECD Countries
使用协整方法，研究美国大都市区内部及之间、OECD国家内部及之间的商品价格趋势共享程度，发现服务、商品和食品价格存在共享趋势，但租金和跨国商品价格共享趋势不明显，对通用价格指数提出质疑。
How similar is the price behavior of different commodities? Of the same commodity in different areas? Using cointegration methods, we explore the degree of shared trends among prices within and across U.S. metropolitan areas, as well as within and across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Within U.S. metropolitan areas, there are shared price trends among services, goods, and food, though not for rents. Across U.S. metropolitan areas, there appear to be empirically effective arbiiraging mechanisms for the prices of food, goods, and services. Within OECD nations, there do not appear to be shared price trends between commodities, which suggests that more independent factors affect prices at the national level than at the metropolitan level. Looking at single-commodity groups across these nations, we found hardly any examples of shared trends, which suggests that substantial impediments to the free flow of goods (or factors) persist among these nations. Our results argue against the justification of a universal price index due to shared trends.