Price Gouging in the Retail Gasoline Market?
Author : Benjamin W. Brew
Publisher :
Page : 70 pages
File Size : 45,60 MB
Release : 1991
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ISBN :
Author : Benjamin W. Brew
Publisher :
Page : 70 pages
File Size : 45,60 MB
Release : 1991
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ISBN :
Author : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Publisher :
Page : 754 pages
File Size : 27,84 MB
Release : 2002
Category : Business & Economics
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Author : Federico Rossi
Publisher :
Page : 46 pages
File Size : 23,4 MB
Release : 2020
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ISBN :
We quantify the effect of consumers' price uncertainty on gasoline prices and margins on an Italian highway. We observe the change in prices triggered by a longitudinal policy-based change in consumers' price information from one in which drivers on the highway had no information on the prices of stations they encountered to one that allows consumers to observe the prices of four upcoming stations on a single price sign by the side of the highway. Using these data, we estimate a model of consumer search and purchase behavior and a corresponding model of gas station pricing. We then measure the impact of varying degrees of price information on equilibrium prices, including (i) no price information, (ii) the current policy and (iii) full price information. We also compare the current policy with an alternative policy in which stations' prices are advertised with individual price signs. We find that when consumers do not have price information, gas stations are able to charge 31% more, in terms of higher price-cost margins, than when prices are known. Our welfare analysis suggests that price information is worth 57 euro cents to consumers every time they take the highway. Relative to the current mandatory policy, advertising price on individual signs is worth 19 euro cents more to consumers.
Author :
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 39,61 MB
Release : 1999
Category : Gasoline
ISBN : 1428918760
This report examines a recurring question about gasoline markets: why, especially in times of high price volatility, do retail gasoline prices seem to rise quickly but fall back more slowly? Do gasoline prices actually rise faster than they fall, or does this just appear to be the case because people tend to pay more attention to prices when they`re rising? This question is more complex than it might appear to be initially, and it has been addressed by numerous analysts in government, academia and industry. The question is very important, because perceived problems with retail gasoline pricing have been used in arguments for government regulation of prices. The phenomenon of prices at different market levels tending to move differently relative to each other depending on direction is known as price asymmetry. This report summarizes the previous work on gasoline price asymmetry and provides a method for testing for asymmetry in a wide variety of situations. The major finding of this paper is that there is some amount of asymmetry and pattern asymmetry, especially at the retail level, in the Midwestern states that are the focus of the analysis. Nevertheless, both the amount asymmetry and pattern asymmetry are relatively small. In addition, much of the pattern asymmetry detected in this and previous studies could be a statistical artifact caused by the time lags between price changes at different points in the gasoline distribution system. In other words, retail gasoline prices do sometimes rise faster than they fall, but this is largely a lagged market response to an upward shock in the underlying wholesale gasoline or crude oil prices, followed by a return toward the previous baseline. After consistent time lags are factored out, most apparent asymmetry disappears.
Author : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Antitrust, Monopolies, and Business Rights
Publisher :
Page : 628 pages
File Size : 13,17 MB
Release : 1992
Category : Business & Economics
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Author : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
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Page : 112 pages
File Size : 26,33 MB
Release : 2011
Category : Nature
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Author : United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
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Page : 224 pages
File Size : 36,67 MB
Release : 2007
Category : Technology & Engineering
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Author : Severin Borenstein
Publisher :
Page : 50 pages
File Size : 29,4 MB
Release : 1993
Category : Gasoline
ISBN :
This paper tests for price patterns in retail gasoline markets consistent with those predicted by models of implicit collusion among firms. Recent supergame models show that the highest supportable collusive price is a function of today's profit relative to expected future profit: collusive prices are higher when predictable changes in demand or cost lead firms to expect that collusive profits are increasing rather than declining. Ceteris paribus, collusive profits will be expected to increase when demand is expected to increase and/or costs are expected to decline. Using panel data on sales volume, and retail and wholesale prices in 59 cities over 72 months, we find results consistent with these predictions. Controlling for current demand and input price, the elasticity of current retail margins with respect to expected next-month demand is about 0.37. The elasticity of current margins with respect to next-month wholesale price is about -0.37. The results are inconsistent with inventory effects.
Author :
Publisher :
Page : 16 pages
File Size : 46,67 MB
Release : 1999
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Numerous US states have general sales-below-cost (SBC) laws, while others have SBC laws directed specifically at the retail gasoline market. Potential violations of these laws occur when prices are less than the seller's cost of doing business, or some proxy thereof. The most commonly stated purpose of these laws is to protect small independent firms from predation by larger firms. Previous studies indicate that SBC laws have resulted in higher prices to consumers. This study examines whether SBC laws have significantly altered the number & structure of retail gasoline outlets in the states that have adopted these laws. In particular, it studies whether SBC laws, as well as other laws directed explicitly at the retail gasoline market, have protected smaller establishments from the general decline in number experienced nation-wide. Data utilized for the report are from the US Bureau of the Census for 1987 & 1992, the latest years available.
Author : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Publisher :
Page : 112 pages
File Size : 12,50 MB
Release : 1996
Category : Gasoline
ISBN :