A matter of taste: Estimating import price inflation across U.S. income groups

Abstract

We estimate import price inflation for different income deciles of U.S. consumers over the years 1998 through 2014. After structurally estimating the parameters of a model capturing non-homotheticity across sectors, we use price data from the universe of foreign establishments exporting goods to the U.S. as well as consumer expenditure information to construct import price indexes. We find that lower income households experienced the most import price inflation, while higher income households experienced the least over our time period.