Austrians widely expected prices to fall on account of EU accession, participation in the Single Market and the resulting stepped-up competition. In hindsight, this assessment was partly correct. In the course of the decade from 1995 to 2004, the inflation rate dropped by half to 1.5% per annum...

Discount pricing – the strategy of reducing regular prices through quantity, seasonal, cash or promotional discounts, coupons, customer loyalty programs and the like – plays an important role in retail pricing and is widespread business practice in virtually all retail industries in Austria....

Public sentiment indicators available for the period from 2002 through 2011 provide a clear profile of public opinion on the euro for Austria and partly also for the euro area. Essentially, the period following the introduction of euro banknotes and coins falls into two distinct phases during...

This study compares consumers’ subjective price perceptions with official inflation data for the period from the euro cash changeover in 2002 to 2006. At an annual average of 1.7%, the overall rate of inflation has remained low over the past five years despite adverse effects exerted by...

This paper analyzes Austrian and euro area opinion polls to assess the Austrian public’s views about the single currency five years after the introduction of euro cash. The analysis focuses on the following questions: How are Austrians managing with the euro now? How do Austrians assess the...

This study examines the type and extent of information central banks provide to advance economic literacy in general and financial literacy in particular. Some 30 central banks across the world provide financial education products of varying complexity for different target groups, some in close...

In the euro area countries, the euro cash changeover was accompanied by the development of a significant gap between actual inflation — as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) — and the inflation perceived by the general public; in Austria, this difference was...

We ask why, in many circumstances and many environments, decision-makers choose to act on a time-regular basis (e.g. adjust every six weeks) or on a stateregular basis (e.g. set prices ending in a 9), even though such an approach appears suboptimal. The paper attributes regular behaviour to...

This paper documents patterns of price setting at the retail level in the euro area, summarized in six stylized facts. First, the average euro area monthly frequency of price adjustment is 15 p.c., compared to about 25 p.c. in the US. Second, the frequency of price changes is characterized by...

Using a comprehensive data set on retail prices across the euro area, we analyse within- and cross-country price dispersion in European countries. First, we study price dispersion over time, by investigating the time-series evolution of the coefficient of variation, calculated from price levels....