Exchange Rate Shocks and Quality Adjustments
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Abstract Do firms respond to cost shocks by reducing the quality of their products? Using microdata from a large Russian retailer that refreshes its product line twice-yearly, we document that higher quality products are more profitable than lower quality ones, but that the number of high quality products experiences a relative decrease after a large ruble devaluation in 2014. We show that rising firm costs–and not shrinking consumer incomes–explains the reallocation, and rationalize the data with a model that features consumer expenditure switching between high and low qualities. The reallocation to lower quality products reduces average pass-through by 26%.
2018 ◽
Vol 3
(2)
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pp. 2-19
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2017 ◽
Vol 107
(1)
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pp. 249-282
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2020 ◽
Vol 76
(2)
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pp. 139-142
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