{"product_id":"price-setting-hardback-9781509565764","title":"Price Setting (Hardback) 9781509565764","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003ePrice Setting\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eTruman F. Bewley (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781509565764, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 13 June 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e224 pages\u003cbr\u003e23.1 x 16.5 x 2.5 cm, 0.476 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Truman Bewley has a unique interview skill in drawing out the thought process that important, if unsung, economic decision makers go through on a regular basis. His results ought to change our thinking about central economic policy issues, notably about the management of inflation and recessions.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert J. Shiller, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Economics at Yale University, and author of \u003ci\u003eIrrational Exuberance\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“How prices respond to the business cycle – and why they often don’t –  is one of the enduring mysteries of economics. In \u003ci\u003ePrice Setting\u003c\/i\u003e, the eminent scholar Truman Bewley tackles the question with the simple but powerful method of asking businesspeople why they do what they do. The result is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the economy.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eN. Gregory Mankiw, Harvard University, and author of \u003ci\u003eMacroeconomics\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ePrinciples of Economics\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Bewley has patiently asked hundreds of company managers how they operate when setting prices, and has skillfully summarized their responses in terms that make sense to an economist. The result is a set of new and important insights into how a modern economy actually works.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Howitt, Brown University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Truman Bewley has made foundational contributions to decision theory under uncertainty, the general equilibrium model with incomplete markets, and pure monetary theory. This remarkable new book shows Bewley’s versatility and openness to new methods. Based on painstaking interviews with executives, the book is full of new evidence, findings, and ideas about determinants of time series properties of nominal prices for various types of commodities. Bewley’s approach deserves to be applied to the study price setting during other episodes, and in other countries experiencing diverse rates of price level inflations.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Sargent, New York University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“…the book shines with verbatim quotes from numerous interviews. These quotes transport the reader to boardrooms at large and small companies, facing very different figures from the corporate world, each providing their own very particular insights.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSociety of Professional Economists\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eThe prices of some products fluctuate dramatically, while others remain more constant. What accounts for these extreme differences?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Renowned economist Truman F. Bewley investigates and elucidates this puzzling problem. Its crux, he argues, is that differentiated product prices are usually stable, whereas the prices of undifferentiated products – for which buyers can easily find comparable substitutes – are often volatile. Although product differentiation gives producers market power, this power alone does not guarantee price stability. There are nearly undifferentiated products whose producers have market power yet for which prices are unstable. Weakness of product differentiation makes it so advantageous for producers to compete on price that they do so and forego the benefits and stability of price collusion. Producers of truly differentiated goods prefer to compete on product performance rather than price and find that reducing prices during recessions does little to increase demand.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Based on hundreds of interviews with businesspeople responsible for setting prices, Bewley’s book is an unusual and groundbreaking work, with findings vital for economists, students, and policymakers.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 1 Introduction\u003cbr\u003e 2 The Pricing of Manufactured Goods\u003cbr\u003e 3 Retail Pricing\u003cbr\u003e 4 Restaurant Pricing\u003cbr\u003e 5 Pricing by Contract Manufacturers\u003cbr\u003e 6 Pricing in the Construction Industry\u003cbr\u003e 7 The Pricing of Cement\u003cbr\u003e 8 The Pricing of Commodity Lumber, Plywood, and Oriented Strand Board\u003cbr\u003e 9 The Pricing of Midwestern Food and Feed Grains\u003cbr\u003e 10 Conclusion \u003cbr\u003e Appendix\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eNotes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eReferences\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eIndex\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Economics [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Economics\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Economics%20%5BKC%5D%22\"\u003eKC\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52458271899928,"sku":"9781509565764","price":25.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9781509565764.jpg?v=1785370288","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/price-setting-hardback-9781509565764","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}