This article examines the price dispersion in the European Union (EU) over 15 years (1990–2005). An extensive overview of
the literature offers inconclusive results with the half-lives of price shocks from 2.8 to 282 months. Until now, most of
the empirical research has been either micro or macro based. In contrast, we conducted a complex analysis utilizing both aggregate
and disaggregate price data. The macro approach is based on a Comparative Price Level index calculated as the ratio between
PPPs and exchange rate. The disaggregate analysis utilizes the actual prices of almost 150 individual products sold in the
15 capital cities of the EU. We conducted sigma and beta convergence in the analysis of both datasets. There are several differences
in results depending on whether the calculation was based on indices or actual prices. Additionally, the model is tested to
measure the contribution of different factors in explaining the observed convergence pattern. Most of the explanatory power
comes from the differences in GDP (or wages), exchange rate volatility and differences in taxes. The Euro effect when controlling
for exchange rate volatility, is not significant.
Keywords Price convergence - International price dispersion - Law of one price - Aggregation bias
JEL Classification E31 - F36 - F41