THE BEHAVIOR OF PRICES AS A RESPONSE TO STRUCTURAL CHANGES - THE ROLE OF THE ECONOMIC TRANSMISSION MECHANISMS IN EXPLAINING THE OBSERVED BEHAVIOR

The paper analyzes the impact of structural variables on prices by building a model based on a system of difference equations. The main contribution of the paper is the formulation and testing of a hypothesis regarding the relation between the changes in the trajectories of prices as a result of the changes in the structural variables and the pattern of the economic transmission mechanisms. The hypothesis was verified, indicating that there are unique characteristics of the transmission mechanisms and of the relations between them that differentiate the high volatility behavior of prices from the low volatility behavior.