domestically produced goods; Okun; unprecedented devaluation; Louka Katseli

The origin of this paper can be traced back to early February 1983, following my visit to a small shoe repair shop in a suburb of Athens. The owner of the shop had angrily protested the decision of the firm that supplied him shoe polish to issue a new price list, which effectively raised the prices of almost all of its main products by 20 to 34 percent. His anger was focused not so much on the extent of the price change but on the fact that, contrary to his expectations, the new price list was issued so soon after the last list in October.