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The Real Thing: Nominal Price Rigidity of the Nickel Coke, 1886-1959

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Levy

    (RCEA - Rimini Center for Economic Analysis, Emory University [Atlanta, GA], Bar-Ilan University [Israël])

  • Andrew T Young

    (TTU - Texas Tech University [Lubbock])

Abstract
We report that the price of a 6.5-oz Coca-Cola was 5c from 1886 until 1959. Thus, we are documenting a nominal price rigidity that lasted more than 70 years! The case of Coca-Cola is particularly interesting because during the 70-year period there were substantial changes in the soft drink industry as well as two World Wars, the Great Depression, and numerous regulatory interventions and lawsuits, which led to substantial changes in the Coca- Cola market conditions. The nickel price of Coke, nevertheless, remained unchanged. We find that this unusual rigidity is best explained by (1) a contract between the Company and its parent bottlers that encouraged retail price maintenance, (2) a single-coin vending machine technology, which limited the Company's price adjustment options due to limited availability and unreliability of the existing flexible price adjustment technologies, and (3) a single-coin monetary transaction technology, which limited the Company's price adjustment options due to the customer "inconvenience cost." We show that these price adjustment costs are of a different nature than the standard menu cost, and their estimates exceed the existing estimates by an order of magnitude. A possible broader relevance of the nickel Coke phenomenon is discussed in the context of Nickel and Dime Stores, which were popular in the US in the late 1800s and the early 1900s.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Levy & Andrew T Young, 2004. "The Real Thing: Nominal Price Rigidity of the Nickel Coke, 1886-1959," Post-Print hal-02386914, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02386914
    DOI: 10.1353/mcb.2004.0065
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02386914
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Snir, Avichai & Chen, Haipeng (Allan) & Levy, Daniel, 2022. "Zero-Ending Prices, Cognitive Convenience, and Price Rigidity," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 203, pages 519-542.
    2. Aysoy, Cem & Aysoy, Cevriye & Tumen, Semih, 2014. "Quantifying and explaining stickiness in housing rents: A Turkish case study with micro-level data," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 62-74.
    3. Daniel Levy & Avichai Snir, 2022. "Potterian economics," Oxford Open Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 1, pages 1-32.
    4. Itai Ater & Oren Rigbi, 2015. "Price control and advertising in franchising chains," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 148-158, January.
    5. Levy, Daniel & Snir, Avichai & Gotler, Alex & Chen, Haipeng (Allan), 2020. "Not all price endings are created equal: Price points and asymmetric price rigidity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 33-49.
    6. Daniel Levy & Dongwon Lee & Haipeng (Allan) Chen & Robert J. Kauffman & Mark Bergen, 2011. "Price Points and Price Rigidity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(4), pages 1417-1431, November.
    7. Levy, Daniel, 2007. "Price Rigidity and Flexibility: New Empirical Evidence - Introduction to the Special Issue," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28(7 (Specia), pages 639-647.
    8. Edward S. Knotek & Doron Sayag & Avichai Snir, 2019. "The Effects of Price Endings on Price Rigidity: Evidence from VAT Changes," Working Papers 19-24, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    9. Levy, Daniel & Snir, Avichai, 2013. "Shrinking Goods," MPRA Paper 46040, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Daniel Levy & Andrew T. Young, 2021. "Promise, trust, and betrayal: Costs of breaching an implicit contract," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(3), pages 1031-1051, January.
    11. Chen, Haipeng (Allan) & Levy, Daniel & Ray, Sourav & Bergen, Mark, 2008. "Asymmetric price adjustment in the small," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 728-737, May.
    12. Young, Andrew T. & Levy, Daniel, 2014. "Explicit Evidence of an Implicit Contract," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 30(4), pages 804-832.
    13. Mark Bergen & Daniel Levy & Sourav Ray & Paul H. Rubin & Benjamin Zeliger, 2008. "When Little Things Mean a Lot: On the Inefficiency of Item-Pricing Laws," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(2), pages 209-250, May.
    14. Snir, Avichai & Levy, Daniel, 2021. "If You Think 9-Ending Prices Are Low, Think Again," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6(1 (Forthc).
    15. Levy, Daniel, 2007. "Price adjustment under the Table: Evidence on Efficiency-Enhancing Corruption," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 423-447.
    16. Shy, Oz, 2020. "How currency denomination and the ATM affect the way we pay," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    17. Gregory de Walque & Frank Smets & Rafael Wouters, 2006. "Firm-Specific Production Factors in a DSGE Model with Taylor Price Setting," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 2(3), September.
    18. Edward S. Knotek, 2011. "Convenient Prices and Price Rigidity: Cross-Sectional Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(3), pages 1076-1086, August.
    19. John C. Driscoll & Ruth A. Judson, 2013. "Sticky deposit rates," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2013-80, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    20. Georg Müller & Mark Bergen & Shantanu Dutta & Daniel Levy, 2007. "Non-price rigidity and cost of adjustment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(7), pages 817-832.
    21. Alvarez Luis J. & Burriel Pablo, 2010. "Is a Calvo Price Setting Model Consistent with Individual Price Data?," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-25, May.
    22. Levy, Daniel, 2007. "Price Rigidity and Flexibility: Recent Theoretical Developments - Introduction to the Special Issue," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28(6 (Specia), pages 523-530.
    23. Alan Kackmeister, 2007. "Yesterday's Bad Times Are Today's Good Old Times: Retail Price Changes Are More Frequent Today Than in the 1890s," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(8), pages 1987-2020, December.
    24. repec:wvu:wpaper:10-07 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sticky Prices; Cost of Adjustment; Menu Cost; Retail Price Maintenance; Single-Coin Vending Machine; Customer Inconvenience Cost; Coca-Cola; Coke; Nickel Coke; Pepsi; Nickel and Dime Stores; Rigid Prices; Price Rigidity; Price Stickiness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing
    • N1 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations
    • N8 - Economic History - - Micro-Business History

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