List Prices

the prices of various commodities in the wholesale trade of capitalist countries, published in periodicals and in the wholesale price lists of the firms that produce or sell the commodities. List prices are similar to the market quotations of the commodities, that is, to the prices of the commodities sold on the exchange. However, actual transactions usually underlie the market quotations. List prices, in contrast, are usually nominal; that is, they do not reflect the actual prices of the sales, which are for the most part made at discount from the list price. The difference between the list price and actual price depends on the market. During an economic crisis the increased discounts make actual prices much lower than list prices; during brisk periods, on the other hand, actual prices may be higher than list prices. Since the indexes of wholesale prices are based primarily on list prices, they conceal the sharp fluctuations in actual prices.