Multi-establishment Firms, Pricing and the Propagation of Local Shocks: Evidence from US Retail
利用大衰退期间门店级扫描数据与县级房价数据，研究发现零售连锁店的统一定价策略会将本地需求冲击传播到其他县，使通胀地区差异缩小50%，加剧了衰退严重地区的经济影响。
Abstract Do centralized pricing decisions by retail chains with a presence in multiple markets contribute to the propagation of local economic shocks? Using storelevel scanner data linked to county-level house prices during the Great Recession, I show that prices in a county respond to house price-induced demand shocks in distant counties served by the same chains. This pattern is consistent with a model of uniform pricing. Counterfactual analysis reveals that uniform pricing, combined with the geographic dispersion of retail chains, reduced cross-county dispersion of inflation by 50%, amplifying the effects of the Great Recession in areas more severely affected.