Why Don't Prices Rise During Periods of Peak Demand? Evidence from Scanner Data
基于一家大型超市连锁七年半的扫描数据，发现季节性需求高峰时零售价格反而下降，主要源于零售商降低毛利率，这与“亏本销售”竞争模型一致。
We examine retail and wholesale prices for a large supermarket chain over seven and one-half years. We find that prices fall on average during seasonal demand peaks for a product, largely due to changes in retail margins. Retail margins for specific goods fall during peak demand periods for that good, even if these periods do not coincide with aggregate demand peaks for the retailer. This is consistent with “loss-leader” models of retailer competition. Models stressing cyclical demand elasticities or cyclical firm conduct are less consistent with our findings. Manufacturer behavior plays a limited role in the countercyclicality of prices.