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Weimar! Zimbabwe! These were the historical precedents genuinely expressed a decade ago about what an unprecedented experiment in monetary policy would do to advanced industrial economies. A huge expansion of the money supply, through quantitative easing, and near-zero interest rates might be an immediate palliative in a deep recession but they’d spark an inflationary crisis later on. And high inflation wipes out savings and destroys living standards.

A study published last year by Alberto Cavallo, a Harvard Business School marketing professor, found that price changes across the U.S. retailing industry have become more frequent over the last decade because of online competition.

US exporters have been slashing the prices of goods they sell to China to offset higher trade costs, but Chinese exporters are passing those costs to American companies, research by Alberto F. Cavallo says.

Retailers are now shifting prices every 3.6 months, Harvard Business School research shows.

While e-commerce is driving retailers to change prices more frequently, it is also leading to more uniform pricing across online and offline retailers.

A paper by Alberto Cavallo of Harvard University found evidence that the algorithms used by internet-based retail giants like Amazon to constantly change and adjust prices have led to greater price fluctuations in response to various macroeconomic shocks. This so-called ‘Amazon Effect’ not only forces brick-and-mortar outlets to respond in a similar manner but also

The influence of a growing online retail industry increases consumers’ exposure to the fluctuations of energy prices and exchange rates.

According to Harvard Business School professor Alberto Cavallo, e-commerce is flatlining competition.

Prices for groceries sold by Walmart vary less from one store to another when Amazon markets the same references.

Amazon Effect: researcher claims web giant’s low prices keep inflation in check