Inflation Skewness and Price Indexation

Firouzi Naeim, Peyman and Rahimzadeh, golnoush (2013): Inflation Skewness and Price Indexation.

Abstract

One of the two price indexation schemes in the staggered price DSGE models is the indexation to the average inflation. In this essay we show that using average of inflation as index multiplier may lead to the deviation from the optimal price for intermediate good producer. Although there is no problem with this indexation method as far as the inflation distribution is symmetric, when we have a skewed inflation (as we have in the U.S. economy and most of the G7 countries) indexation to average inflation does not reflect the profit maximizer firm's decision making process. After showing the deficiencies of this method we introduce the Median of inflation distribution as a measure, explain it's advantage and support our claim by comparing the simulated inflation and the measure which is used for indexation purpose. Our results suggest that median of inflation distribution minimizes the forecast error in the Calvo price setting procedure of intermediate good producer

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: DSGE; Inflation Skewness; Non-Linearity; Calvo Pricing
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E30 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E31 - Price Level ; Inflation ; Deflation; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E37 - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E50 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E52 - Monetary Policy

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