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...

Based on individual price records collected for the computation of the Austrian CPI, average frequencies of price changes and durations of price spells are estimated to characterize price setting in Austria. Depending on the estimation method, prices are unchanged for 10 to 14 months on average....