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Buyer-size discounts and inflation dynamics

Vol: 
CAMA Working Paper 04/2014
Author name: 
Mayumi Ojima
Junnosuke Shino
Kozo Ueda
Year: 
2014
Month: 
January
Abstract: 

This paper considers the macroeconomic effects of retailers’ market concentration and buyer-size discounts on inflation dynamics. During Japan’s “lost decades,” large retailers enhanced their market power, leading to increased exploitation of buyer-size discounts in procuring goods. We incorporate this effect into an otherwise standard New- Keynesian model. Calibrating to the Japanese economy during the lost decades, we find that despite a reduction in procurement cost, strengthened buyer-size discounts did not cause deflation; rather, they caused inflation of 0.1% annually. This arose from an increase in the real wage due to the expansion of production.

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