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EUROSYSTEM

ErwanGautier,CristinaConflitti, DanielEnderle,LudmilaFadejeva, AlexGrimaud,EduardoGutiérrez,ValentinJouvanceau,Jan-OliverMenz, AlariPaulus,PavlosPetroulas,PauRoldan-Blanco,ElisabethWieland

WorkingPaperSeries

Consumerpricestickinessintheeuroareaduringaninflationsurge

chaMP

No3181

Disclaimer:ThispapershouldnotbereportedasrepresentingtheviewsoftheEuropeanCentralBank(ECB).TheviewsexpressedarethoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyreflectthoseoftheECB.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31811

ChallengesforMonetaryPolicyTransmissioninaChangingWorldNetwork(ChaMP)

Thispapercontainsresearchconductedwithinthenetwork“ChallengesforMonetaryPolicyTransmissioninaChangingWorld

Network”(ChaMP).ItconsistsofeconomistsfromtheEuropeanCentralBank(ECB)andthenationalcentralbanks(NCBs)oftheEuropeanSystemofCentralBanks(ESCB).

ChaMPiscoordinatedbyateamchairedbyPhilippHartmann(ECB),andconsistingofDianaBonfim(BancodePortugal),MargheritaBottero(Bancad’Italia),EmmanuelDhyne(NationaleBankvanBelgië/BanqueNationaledeBelgique)andMariaT.Valderrama

(OesterreichischeNationalbank),whoaresupportedbyMelinaPapoutsiandGonzaloPaz-Pardo(bothECB),7centralbankadvisersand8academicconsultants.

ChaMPseekstorevisitourknowledgeofmonetarytransmissionchannelsintheeuroareainthecontextofunprecedentedshocks,

multipleongoingstructuralchangesandtheextensionofthemonetarypolicytoolkitoverthelastdecadeandahalfaswellastherecentsteepinflationwaveanditsreversal.Moreinformationisprovidedonits

website.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31812

Abstract

WeuseCPImicrodatafornineeuroareacountriestodocumentnewevidenceonconsumerpricestickinessintheeuroareaduringthe2021-2024inflationcycle.In2022,themonthlyfrequencyofpricechangesreached12%,comparedwithanaverageof8%over2010–2019,roughlyafour-percentage-pointincrease;itthenfellquicklyin2023andmoreslowlyin2024,endingclosetoitspre-pandemiclevel.Thedeclineinthefrequencyofpricechangeswasfasterforfoodandnon-energyindustrialgoods(NEIG)thanforservices,wherefrequenciesremainedelevatedin2024.Theoverallfrequencyrosemainlybecausethereweremorepriceincreases,whilethemagnitudeoftheaveragesizeofthepriceincreasesordecreaseschangedonlymarginallyduringthesurge.Productswithalargerimported-energycostsharerespondedmorestrongly,andhazard-rateevidenceshowsthattheprobabilityofpriceadjustmentsincreaseswiththegapbetweenactualandoptimalprices,consistentwithstate-dependentpricingandasteepeningofthePhillipscurve.Toillustratetheimplicationsofthisstatedependence,amacromodelsuggeststhatpeakinflationwouldhavebeenalmost1percentagepointlowerifthefrequencyhadnotrespondedtotheinflationsurge.

JELClassification:E31,E52,F33,L11

Keywords:Pricerigidity,euroarea,inflationsurge,micropricedata.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31813

Non-technicalsummary

Understandinghowoftenandhowstronglyconsumerpricesadjustduringperiodsoflargecostshocksiskeytoassessinginflationdynamicsandtherealefectsofmonetarypolicy.Whilepricesarequitestickywheninflationislow(

Gautieretal.

,

2024

),lessisknownabouthowtheyadjustinresponsetolargecostshocks.Usingdetailedmicrodataunderlyingtheconsumerpriceindicesinnineeuroareacountries,thispaperexamineshowprice-settingbehaviourchangedduringtheinflationsurgebetween2021and2024.Theanalysisbuildsonaround190millionpricequotesandprovidesaconsistentcomparisonwiththelowandstableinflationperiodbefore2020.

Wefindthatthefrequencyofconsumerpricechangesincreasedsignificantlyduringthepeakoftheinflationsurge.Onaverage,theshareofpricesthatchangedinagivenmonthrosefromaround8%beforethepandemictoanaverageof12%in2022,peakingatnearly16%inJanuary2023.Thisincreasewasdrivenmainlybymorefrequentpriceincreases,whiletheaveragesizeofpriceincreasesordecreaseschangedonlymodestly.Asinflationsubsidedin2023and2024,thefrequencyofpricechangesgraduallyreturnedtoitspreviouslevels,particularlyforfoodandnon-energyindustrialgoods(NEIG).Incontrast,thefrequencyofpricechangesinservicesremainedhigherthantheaverage,consistentwithmorepersistent,wage-relatedpressuresinthissector.

Akeycontributionofthepaperistotestwhethertheobservedpatternsareconsistentwithpredictionsofastate-dependentpricingmodel,underwhichfirmsaremorelikelytochangepricesinresponsetolargershocks.Theresultsshowthatproductswithagreatershareofinputcosts–particularlyenergy–showedlargerincreasesinthefrequencyofpricechanges.Moreover,hazard-rateevidenceindicatesthatthelikelihoodofapricechangeriseswiththegapbetweentheactualandtheestimatedoptimalprice,bothfindingsconsistentwithstate-dependentadjustment.

Tofurtherassessthemechanismsbehindinflationdynamics,thepaperdecomposesinflationintotwocom-ponents:howoftenpriceschange(extensivemargin)andhowlargethosechangesare(intensivemargin).Duringtheinflationsurge,theextensivemargincontributesmoretoinflationvariationthanitusuallydoesinlow-inflationperiods,whiletheintensivemargincontinuestocontributeatasimilarlevelasinlow-inflationperiods.Inahigher-inflationenvironment,firmsincreasetheirpricesmorefrequently,whichnotonlyincreasesthesizeofpricechanges(becauseofalargershareofpriceincreasesamongpricechanges)butthisalsoraisestheoverallfrequencyofpriceadjustments.Thislatterphenomenonexplainswhytheextensivemarginplayedalargerroleininflationdynamicsduringtherecentinflationsurge.

Finally,amacroeconomicmodelexploreswhatinflationdynamicswouldhavelookedlikeintheabsenceofthisincreaseinpriceflexibility.Thesimulationsshowthatinflationintheeuroareawouldhavebeenuptoonepercentagepointloweratitspeakiffirmshadnotincreasedthefrequencyofpricechanges.Asthefrequencyofpricechangesreturnedtoitslong-termlevelsbylate2024,theepisodeappearslargelytemporaryintermsofprice-settingbehaviour,thoughservicesstilldisplaysomepersistence.

Overall,thestudyprovidesacomprehensivepictureofhowprice-settingbehaviouradaptedduringanexcep-tionallyhigh-inflationepisodeandaddstotheunderstandingofinflationdynamicsintheeuroarea:wheninflationishigh,consumerpricesbecomemoreflexibleandrespondfastertoshocks,makinginflationmoreresponsivetomonetarypolicy.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31814

1Introduction

Wheninflationislowandaggregateshocksaresmall,pricestendtobesticky.

Gautieretal.

(

2024

)documentedforeuroareacountriesthat,onaverage,fewerthan9%ofconsumerpricesotherthanpricesforenergyproductswereadjustedinagivenmonthovertheperiod2010-2019.TheyalsoshowedthatpatternsofpriceadjustmentarebroadlyconsistentwiththepredictionsofaCalvomodel,orastate-dependentmodelwithlargeidiosyncraticshocks.Thesetwomodelsbehavesimilarlywheninflationislowandnotveryvolatile(see

GertlerandLeahy

,

2008

;

Alvarezetal.

,

2017

;

Auclertetal.

,

2023

),andyieldveryclosepredictionsforpriceadjustmentpatterns,showingthatthefrequencyofpricechangesisnotcloselycorrelatedwithinflation,andtheaveragesizeofpricechangesisthemainmarginwherepricesareadjusted.Whenaggregateshocksarelarge,bycontrast,state-dependentmodelspredictthatpriceswillbeadjustedmorefrequently,implyingthat“largeshockstravelfast”(

Cavalloetal.

,

2024

).Thispaperprovidesevidenceforthefirsttimeonthestickinessofconsumerpricesintheeuroareainthepresenceoflargeaggregatecostshocks.Todothisweusenationalconsumerpriceindex(CPI)microdatasetsasin

Gautieretal.

(

2024

),withupdatedinformationfornineeuroareacountriescoveringthefullinflationcyclebetween2021and2024.

Ourfirstmainfindingisthatthefrequencyofpricechangesintheeuroareaincreasedsignificantlyasinflationrosein2022-2023beforeslowlyreturningtoitslong-termaverage.Thiscontrastswiththeperiodoflowinflation,whenthefrequencyofpricechangesintheeuroareawaslowerandquitestableovertime.Thefrequencyofmonthlypricechangesexcludingsales,measuredastheshareofpricesthatchangedwithinanygivenmonth,reachedanaverageof12.0%in2022andpeakedat15.7%inJanuary2023,whiletheaveragewas8.2%before2020.Pricesformorethantwo-thirdsofthedetailedproductcategoriesinourcommonsamplechangedsignificantlymoreoftenin2022thanbefore2020.Thissharpincreaseinthefrequencyofpricechangeswascommontoallbroadproductcategories,butitwasstrongerforfood,whichhasmoreflexiblepricesthannon-energyindustrialgoods(NEIG)orservices.ThefrequencyofpricechangesforfoodandNEIGthenreturnedtoclosetoitslong-termaveragein2024,whilethefrequencyforservicesremainedhigherthanitslong-termaverage,reflectinghowtheresponseofservicestotheinflationsurgewaslaggedandmorepersistent.Wealsousecross-sectionregressionsattheproductlevelandfindthatin2022and2023,ahighershareofimportedenergyinputsisassociatedwithastrongerresponseofthefrequencyofpricechanges.

1

Wedocumentsomecross-countryheterogeneity,notablythattheincreaseinthefrequencyofpricechangesin2022wasgreaterincountrieswheretheinflationsurgewasmorepronounced,butoverallthediferencesbetweencountriesweresmallerthanthosebetweenproducts.

Anotherkeyfindingisthattheaveragesizeofpricechangesexcludingsalesrespondedtotheriseininflationandincreasedfrom1.5%before2020to5.5%in2022.Thischangewasmainlydrivenbyanincreaseinthefractionofpricechangesthatwereincreases,sincetwo-thirdsofallpricechangesbefore2020werepriceincreases,butby2022thisfractionhadincreasedto82%.Overall,theinfla-tionaryepisodewasassociatedwithashiftinthedistributionofpricechanges,withpricerisesclearly

1Micropricesforenergyarenotavailableinalleuroareacountriesandwereexcludedfromthebaselineanalysisbecauseonlyafewnationalmicropricedatasetscoverthemextensively.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31815

predominatingoverpricecuts.Incontrast,theaveragesizesofpricerisesandpricecutsreactedmuchlessintheinflationaryepisode,andthehighermomentsofthepricechangedistributionwerealsobarelyafected.Asinflationcamebackdownin2023-2024,theshareofpriceincreasesreturnedgraduallytoitsaveragefromwheninflationwaslow,whiletherewasnostrongvariationinthesizeofthepricerisesandpricecutstakenseparately.Overall,inflationin2021-2024wasmainlydrivenbyvariationinthefrequencyofpriceincreasesratherthanbychangesinthesizeofthoseindividualpriceincreases.

Wealsofindthattheincreaseinthefrequencyofpricechangesduringtheinflationsurgeisconsistentwiththestandardpredictionsofstate-dependentmodels.Inthesemodels,theprobabilityofapricechangeatagivenfirmdependsonthepricegapbetweentheactualpriceandtheoptimalpricethatthefirmwouldhavesetwithoutfrictions.Whenalargecostshockhitstheeconomy,thispricegapwidensformanyfirmsandtheprobabilityofapricechangealsoincreases.Weinvestigatethedegreeofstatedependenceinconsumerpricesandprovidethreetypesofresultsshowingthepresenceofstatedependenceintheadjustmentsofconsumerprices.First,wederivemicro-price-basedhazardratesanddocumentthattheyareV-shaped,meaningtheprobabilityofapricechangeincreasesastheabsolutepricegapwidens.Thisisconsistentwiththeexistenceofstatedependenceinallcountriesandinmostsectors.Second,inflationcanvaryovertimebecauseofpriceadjustmentsontheextensiveorintensivemargin,thatisthroughadjustmentstothefrequencyofpricechangesortotheaveragesizeofpricechanges.Astate-dependentmodelpredictsthattheextensivemarginshouldcontributemoretothevariationininflationwheninflationishigh.Wethereforeestimateproduct-levelregressionsthatrelateactualproduct-levelinflationtocounterfactualinflationratesforwhicheitherthefrequencyorthesizeofpricechangesisheldconstantovertime.Wefindastrongercorrelationbetweentheextensivemarginandinflationthanbeforeduringtheinflationcycleof2021-2024,suggestingthatvariationinthefrequencyofpricechangescontributedsignificantlymoretothevariationininflationduringthisinflationcycle.Theintensivemargin,whichisthevariationinthesizeofnon-zeropricechanges,stillplayedanimportantroleinexplainingthevariationininflation,asitdidwheninflationwaslow.Weobtainthethirdsetofresultsbyinvestigatingwhethereconomicshocksweretransmitteddiferentlyduringtheinflationsurge.Weestimatelocalprojectionregressionsthatlinkcounterfactualinflationratestoenergyshocks,andwefindthattheextensivemarginwasmoreresponsivetoshocksduringtheinflationsurgethanitwaswheninflationwaslow.Thisconfirmsthatthereissomedegreeofstatedependenceinconsumerpricesettingintheeuroarea.Wealsouseamacromodeltoillustratesomeoftheimplicationsofthisstatedependencewithsimplecounterfactualinflationdynamicsbyimposingorrelaxingstatedependenceinpricesettingintherecentperiod.Thissimplesetupletsusshowthatthequarterlyinflationratewouldhavebeen1percentagepoint(pp)lowerifthefrequencyhadnotrespondedtotheinflationsurge.

Themaincontributionofthispaperisthatitprovidesnewevidenceonpricestickinessintheeuroareawhenlargeaggregatecostshockshittheeconomy.Severalpapershavedocumentedinvariouscontextshowpricesrespondtolargeaggregateshocks:

Gagnon

(

2009

)considerspricesinthecontextofalargedevaluation,

KaradiandReif

(

2019

)duringlargechangesinVATinHungary,

Gopinath

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31816

etal.

(

2012

)duringthecollapseinglobaltradein2008-2009,

AlvarezandNeumeyer

(

2020

)intheArgentiniancontextoflargeincreasesinutilitypricesandacurrencydevaluationbetween2012and2018,and

Aueretal.

(

2021

)afteralargeappreciationofthecurrencyinSwitzerland.

2

Theexistingevidenceonpricerigidityfortheeuroareahasmainlybeenobtainedwithinflationbeinglowandquitestable.Sourcesofevidenceonpricestickinessfortheeuroareaasawholeinclude

Dhyneetal.

(

2006

)and

Gautieretal.

(

2024

).Morerecentcountry-specificevidencehasbeendocumentedforconsumerpricesinSpain(

GutiérrezandRoldan-Blanco

,

2024

),Lithuania(

Jouvanceau

,

2023

)andtheBalticcountries(

Fadejevaetal.

,

2024

),andalsoforproducerpricesinBelgium(

Gagliardoneetal.

,

2025

)andinFrance(

Gautieretal.

,

2023a

).EvidencefortheUnitedStatesinanenvironmentoflowinflationincludes

BilsandKlenow

(

2004

),

KlenowandKryvtsov

(

2008

)and

NakamuraandSteinsson

(

2008

),while

Cavalloetal.

(

2024

)and

MontagandVillar

(

2025

)providesomeresultsforthesurgeinUSinflationin2021-2024.AnotablefindingisthattheincreaseinthefrequencyofpricechangesappearsearlierintheUnitedStatesthanintheeuroareaandismorepronounced.

Oursecondcontributionisthatweprovideevidenceonstatedependenceinconsumerpricesintheeuroarea.

3

Inanenvironmentwherepricingisstate-dependent,thepricesthatarefarthestfromtheiridealtargetshouldexperiencehigherfrequenciesofadjustment.Tothebestofourknowledge,wearethefirsttoprovidesystematicandcomprehensiveempiricalsupportforthishypothesisforconsumerprices,coveringseveralsectorsandcountries.

Gagnonetal.

(

2012

)and

Karadietal.

(

2023

)havedocumentedhazardratesusingasimilarmethodology,butusingonlyscannerpricedatafromsupermarketsintheUSandEurope,while

Gautieretal.

(

2023b

)and

Gagliardoneetal.

(

2025

)computehazardratesrelatingindividualpricestomarginalcostinformationforgasolinepricesinFranceandproducerpricesinBelgium.

Wulfsberg

(

2016

)and

Nakamuraetal.

(

2018

)havealsodecomposedinflationintoextensiveandintensivemarginstoshowthatwheninflationishigh,theextensivemarginmaybemoreimportantforthedynamicsofinflation.Weapplyasimilarsetupinthecontextoftherecentinflationsurgeintheeuroarea.

Moregenerally,thispaperalsocontributestoaliteraturethatexaminestheimplicationsofstatedependencefortherealefectsofmonetarypolicy(

Alvarezetal.

,

2016

,

2022

;

Blancoetal.

,

2024a

,

b

;

GhassibeandNakov

,

2025

),thePhillipscurve(

GertlerandLeahy

,

2008

;

Auclertetal.

,

2023

),oroptimalmonetarypolicyenvironmentsofhighinflation(

Karadietal.

,

2024

).Thestatisticscomputedattheproduct-countrylevelfornineeuroareacountriesaremadeavailabletotheresearchcommunity,asarethoseobtainedforaperiodoflowinflationby

Gautieretal.

(

2024

)andcanbeusedforcalibratingmacroeconomicmodelsandderivingsomefurtherpolicyimplications.

4

Ourpaperisorganisedasfollows.Insection

2

,wedescribetheunderlyingdatabase,whichconsistsofupdatedCPImicrodatasetsfornineeuroareacountries.Section

3

documentshowthefrequencyof

2Anotherpartoftherelatedliteraturehasdocumentedpatternsofpricestickinessinacontextofhighsteady-stateinflation.ExamplesincludehighinflationinArgentinaduringthe1990s(

Alvarezetal.

,

2019

)andduringthe1970sand1980sintheUnitedStates(

Nakamuraetal.

,

2018

)andNorway(

Wulfsberg

,

2016

).

3Seealso

AscariandHaber

(

2022

)whoprovideindirectevidenceofstatedependenceusingtimeseriesanalysisfortheUnitedStates.

4Dataandreplicationfilesfrom

Gautieretal.

(

2024

)forthelowinflationperiodcanbeaccessed

here

.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31817

pricechangesrespondedtohigherinflationintheeuroarea.Section

4

investigateschangesinthesizeofpricechanges.Insection

5

,weassesshowmuchstate-dependenceinpricesettinghascontributedtovariationinthefrequencyofpricechangesandtoinflationovertheinflationcycle.Section

6

concludes.

2Data

ThestartingpointforouranalysisisasampleoftheCPImicropricedatasetsusedin

Gautieretal.

(

2024

),whichwehaveextendedovertheyears2020-2024tocovertherecentinflationcycle.Wewereabletocompileresultsforninecountriesintotal,whichtogetherrepresentabout83%oftheeuroareaHICP(Table

1

).ThecountriesareAustria,Estonia,France,Germany,Greece,Italy,Latvia,LithuaniaandSpain.

5

ThemicropricedatasetsendinDecember2024forallbutonecountry.

6

Pricesettingstatisticsfortheeuroareaarederivedfromacommonsampleof166productcategories(definedin

Gautieretal.

,

2024

)thatcoverfood,non-energyindustrialgoods(NEIG)andservices,andtogetheraccountforaround60%oftheeuroareaHICPintermsofproductcoverage(seeTable

A1

fordetailsontheproductcompositionofthecommonsample).Ouranalysisisbasedonatotalofmorethan190millionpricequotescoveringtheperiod2010to2024.Wecomputethemomentsofpricechangesundertwoscenarios:oneincludingpricechangesduetosales,andtheotherexcludingthem.Formostcountriesinoursample(Austria,France,Germany,Italy,LatviaandLithuania),weidentifysalesusingtheflagprovidedbythenationalstatisticalofficeinthemicro-pricedatasets.ForSpainandGreece,wherethisflagismissing,weapplyastandardsalesfilter.

Like

Gautieretal.

(

2024

),weexcludeenergyfromouranalysisbecausethecountry-specificmicropricedatasetscoveronlyaverysmallpartofit.

7

Ourresultsthereforereflecthowthepriceadjustmentforproductsexcludingenergychangedduringtherecentinflationsurge.Thecorrespondinginflationrate,whichisHICPexcludingenergy,roseattheendof2021andthenagainmoresubstantiallyin2022.ItreachedahistoricalpeakinMarch2023,wheninflationstoodat7.9%fortheeuroareaasawholeandrangedfrom6.9%inFranceand7.0%inItalyto8.3%inGermanyandmorethan15%intheBalticcountries(Figure

1

).QuiteaquickdisinflationprocessstartedafterMarch2023,andthenslowedin2024.Bytheendof2024,theinflationrateintheeuroareaexcludingenergywasabout2.7%.

Theperiod2020-2024posedthreemeasurementchallengesforanalysisofprice-settingbehaviourusingeuroareaCPImicrodata.First,theCOVID-19pandemiccauseddisruptionsinpricecollection.Second,governmentspassedvarioustaxchangesandotherfiscalmeasuresbecauseofthepandemicandtocounterhighinflation.Third,nationalstatisticalofficeshaveincreasinglyconstructedpriceindexesfromscannerandweb-scrapingdata,butconfidentialityconcernsmeanthattheseindividual

5Comparedtothatusedin

Gautieretal.

(

2024

),thedatasetlacksBelgium,LuxembourgandSlovakia,butincludesEstonia.

6TheonlyexceptionisLithuaniaforwhichthelatestdataavailablewerefromMarch2023.SeeAppendix

A.1

foradescriptionofthenineeuroareacountry-specificdatasetsandhowweaccessedthem.

7Nevertheless,asarobustnesscheck,weprovidesomeresultsforenergypricesforasubsetofavailablecountries.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31818

pricequotesareoftenunavailableforresearchpurposes.Theremainderofthissectionbrieflydiscussestheimplicationsoftheseissuesforouranalysis.

TheCOVID-19pandemicmadeitdifficulttocollectpricesinthefieldbecauseoftherestrictionsimposedduringlockdowns.Furthermore,someproductsweretemporarilyoutofstock,andsofewerpricequoteswerefoundinsomecountriesandalargershareofpriceswereestimated,orimputed,inmostcountries.AsTable

A2

intheAppendixreports,theshareofimputedpricespeakedintheeuroareaat32%ofthetotalHICPinApril2020,whenthefirstwaveofthepandemichitEurope.Theshareofimputationsthenfelltoalmostzerointhesummerof2020,beforerisingagaintoaround15%inthefollowingwinter.Inlinewiththeimpactofthepandemicwaning,priceimputationsalsobecamelessimportantinthecourseof2021.ForouranalysiswesimplyexcludethedataforApril2020becausetheproportionofpriceimputationsissolarge,andwetakethecollectedpricequotationsoftheotherpandemicmonthsastheyare,whilebearinginmindthattheymaynotreflectactualpricingdecisionsbutratherassumptionsaboutthembystatisticalinstitutes.

8

TherewereseveralmajorVATchangesin2020-2024,eitherinresponsetotheCOVID-19pandemicortotheinflationsurgeof2021-2023.

9

Somecountriesinoursampleintroducedtemporarysector-specificcutsinVATasaneconomicstimulus(see

OECD

,

2022

),andtherewasalsoatemporaryreductioninVATonessentialfooditemsinSpainfromJanuary2023toDecember2024(

Fortezaetal.

,

2025

).ThereweretemporaryreductionsinoverallVATratesinGermanyfromJuly2020toDecember2020,andseveralcountrieshavesimilarlyintroducedpricesupportmeasuresmorerecentlytocushiontheimpactofthesharpriseinenergyprices(see

Amoresetal.

,

2025

).OuranalysisdropsobservationsforanygivencountryforthemonthswhentherewasamajorchangeinVAT.

Thenationalstatisticalofficesinfourcountriesshiftedtheirpricecollectionfromon-sitepricecollectiontoprocessingsupermarketscannerdata.France,ItalyandSpaindidthisfrom2020,andAustriadidsofrom2022.Althoughscannerdataareavaluablesourceformeasuringconsumerpriceinflation,theyarenotincludedinthecorrespondingCPIresearchmicropricedatasetsusedinthispaperforreasonsofconfidentiality.Thenumberoffoodandnon-durablegoodsavailablehasthusfallensubstantiallyinItalyandAustria,andtoalesserextentinFrance;seeFigure

A1

intheAppendixreportingthenumberofobservationsbycountryandbroadsectorrelativetothenumberofobservationsin2019.OntopofthistherewasaspecificstructuralbreakthatafectsonlinepricequotesinGermany.PricescollectedonlinearenotpartoftheCPIresearchmicrodatasetsinmosteuroareacountries,butGermanyisanexceptionandtheshareofonlinepricesintheGermandatasethasincreasedsignificantlysince2020(Figure

A2

intheAppendix).Asthefrequencyofpricechangesishigher