Understanding long-run price dispersion

A unique panel of retail prices spanning 123 cities in 79 countries from 1990 to 2005 is used to uncover the novel properties of long-run international price dispersion. At the PPP level, almost all of price dispersion is attributed to unskilled wage dispersion. At the level of individual goods and services, the average contribution of these wages is significantly reduced, reflecting that good-specific sources of price dispersion, such as trade costs and good-specific markups, tend to average out across goods. At the LOP level, borders and distance contribute about equally to price dispersion that is rising in the distribution share. •Long-run price dispersion is investigated at the good level.•Harrod–Balassa–Samuelson holds at the PPP level.•Borders and distance contribute about equally to price dispersion at the LOP level.•Long-run price dispersion is rising in the distribution share.