In the last year inflation it has once again become a problem in much of the world. In June the consumer price index Use shot up 9,1%, the highest since 1981, while theEurozone updated to July the historic record (8,9%) e in Germany the Bundesbank expects that the cost of living will reach 10% in the autumn. As for theItaly, according to Istat, inflation stood at 7,9% last month, but with an increase in the "shopping cart" (the sub-index relating to the most purchased products) equal to 9,1%, the most high since September 1984. This very distinction raises a question: what are the prices that change most often from one month to the next?
The answer is contained in a study by the Bank of Italy entitled "New facts on consumer price rigidity in the Euro Area". The analysis focuses on 11 Eurozone countries (which together cover around 60% of the area's consumption) and cover the years 2010-2019, before the recent surge in inflation.
The differences between the sectors…
According to the economists of Via Nazionale, on average 12,3% of the prices undergoes a change over the course of a month, but if we exclude the changes due to the balances, the figure drops to 8,3%. The differences between countries are relatively contained, while those between sectors are much more marked: prices vary more frequently between unprocessed foods (31%, on average, every month) and much less in the services (6%).
…and how to explain them
“Intersectoral heterogeneity is very similar between countries – reads the study – and is partly due to the different cost structures of products”. In particular, the frequency of the variation is lower for those products which are more affected by the component of cost of labor, while it is higher for those more related to energy and raw material costs, whose prices are decidedly more volatile.
A comparison between the Eurozone and the United States
Bank of Italy then makes a comparison with the other side of the Atlantic, emphasizing that, compared to the Eurozone, prices are updated much more frequently in the United States, where the monthly changes affect almost one in five products (19,3%). "However - Via Nazionale clarifies again - if we exclude the price changes due to sales, the difference is significantly reduced", because the data are reduced to 10% for the United States and 8,5% for the area of the euro.
The magnitude of the price changes
Finally, returning to the Eurozone alone, analysts explain that not only the frequency, but also the amplitude of price changes on a monthly basis is quite significant: the median increase is equal to 9,6%, while the median decrease reaches 13% (if balances are excluded, the percentages drop to 7 and 10% respectively). Also in this case, Bankitalia specifies, "the median variation in both directions is lower for services than for other products".
