Staff Reports
Micro and Macro Cost-Price Dynamics in Normal Times and During Inflation Surges
Number 1195
May 2026

JEL classification: E30, E31, E32, D22

Authors: Luca Gagliardone, Mark Gertler, Simone Lenzu, and Joris Tielens

We develop a unified approach to studying cost-price dynamics in the cross-section of firms in order to jointly explain the time series of aggregate inflation and the frequency of price changes, both during normal times and inflation surges. A key novelty is the use of microdata on firms’ prices and production costs to construct an empirical measure of price gaps—the deviation between a firm’s listed and optimal price. Conditional on the path of aggregate cost shocks extracted from the data, a state-dependent pricing model with strategic complementarities accounts well for both the linear cost-price dynamics of the pre-pandemic period and the nonlinear increase in inflation and frequency of price adjustment that followed.

Full Article
Author Disclosure Statement(s)
Luca Gagliardone
The author declares that (s)he has no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. Prior to circulation, this paper was reviewed in accordance with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York review policy, available at https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/index.html.

Mark Gertler
The author declares that (s)he has no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. Prior to circulation, this paper was reviewed in accordance with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York review policy, available at https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/index.html.

Simone Lenzu
The author declares that (s)he has no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. Prior to circulation, this paper was reviewed in accordance with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York review policy, available at https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/index.html.

Joris Tielens
The author declares that (s)he has no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. Prior to circulation, this paper was reviewed in accordance with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York review policy, available at https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/index.html.
Suggested Citation:
Gagliardone, Luca, Mark Gertler, Simone Lenzu, and Joris Tielens. 2026. “Micro and Macro Cost-Price Dynamics in Normal Times and During Inflation Surges.” Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no. 1195, May. https://doi.org/10.59576/sr.1195

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