Capital-Market Consequences of Asymmetric Output-Price Rigidities

Firms adjust output prices to cost decreases with a delay relative to cost increases. I document firms’ operating income becomes less persistent when their input costs decrease than when their costs increase. The stocks of firms slowly cutting output prices due to asymmetric output-price rigidities also experience high stock return volatility, and their CEOs more frequently manage expectations of financial analysts. I show these results are consistent with a New Keynesian model with trend inflation.