Working Paper
Pricing-to-Market in Business Cycle Models
Abstract: We evaluate several leading microfounded pricing-to-market (PTM) mechanisms embedded in a two-country DSGE model with volatile exchange rates driven by real and financial shocks. Across these frameworks, including the reduced-form Kimball specification, we identify a fundamental parameterization trilemma: Models typically struggle to simultaneously match empirically plausible producer markups, muted expenditure switching (low short-run trade elasticity), and the low exchange-rate pass-through needed to account for the business-cycle dynamics of prices and quantities. We provide an analytical characterization of this trilemma and quantitatively assess each model’s performance vis-à-vis a unified set of empirical benchmarks.
JEL Classification: F31; E32; F41;
https://doi.org/10.21799/frbp.wp.2026.31
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Bibliographic Information
Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Part of Series: Working Papers
Publication Date: 2026-06-30
Number: 26-31