This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Gasoline Price Spikes and Regional Gasoline Content Regulation: A Structural Approach

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Muehlegger, Erich (Harvard U)
Abstract

This paper studies the degree to which gasoline price spikes in California, Illinois and Wisconsin over 1995 to 2001 can be explained by regulatory differentiation - gasoline sold in California, Illinois and Wisconsin is chemically different than gasoline sold in other locations as a result of local regulation supplementary to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. I specify a structural model based on the production optimization problem of refiners and estimate wholesale prices for jet fuel, diesel and four blends of gasoline in each geographic market. I then simulate a counterfactual in which gasoline in the three states meets federal requirements. Comparing the results from the counterfactual to the initial model, allows me to distinguish the degree to which prices spikes in these markets are the result of regulatory differentiation, rather than geographic heterogeneity. I estimate that 72, 92 and 91 percent of price spikes created by refinery fires in California, Illinois and Wisconsin could be mitigated by compatibility with federal RFG standards. Moreover, I also quantify the effect of two other factors thought to increase gasoline prices, (i) changes in refinery ownership and (ii) limited expansion of domestic refining capacity.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/research/wpaper.NSF/rwp/RWP06-015/$File/rwp_06_015_muehlegger_SSRN.pdf
File Format:
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government in its series Working Paper Series with number rwp06-015.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Apr 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp06-015

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Fax: 617-496-2554
Web page: http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/research/working_papers/index.htm
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().

Related research
Keywords:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Espey, Molly, 1998. "Gasoline demand revisited: an international meta-analysis of elasticities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 273-295, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Richard Gilbert & Justine Hastings, 2001. "Vertical Integration in Gasoline Supply: An Empirical Test of Raising Rivals' Costs," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series 1011, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Cyert, Richard M & DeGroot, Morris H, 1973. "An Analysis of Cooperation and Learning in a Duopoly Context," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(1), pages 24-37, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Innes, Robert, 1996. "Regulating Automobile Pollution under Certainty, Competition, and Imperfect Information," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 219-239, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Considine, Timothy J., 2001. "Markup pricing in petroleum refining:: A multiproduct framework," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(10), pages 1499-1526, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Slade, Margaret E, 1987. "Interfirm Rivalry in a Repeated Game: An Empirical Test of Tacit Collusion," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(4), pages 499-516, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Puller, Steven L. & Greening, Lorna A., 1999. "Household adjustment to gasoline price change: an analysis using 9 years of US survey data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 37-52, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Geroski, Paul A & Ulph, Alistair M & Ulph, David T, 1987. "A Model of the Crude Oil Market in Which Market Conduct Varies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 97(388a), pages 77-86, Supplemen. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Considine, Timothy J. & Heo, Eunnyeong, 2000. "Price and inventory dynamics in petroleum product markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 527-548, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Nicol, C. J., 2003. "Elasticities of demand for gasoline in Canada and the United States," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 201-214, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Severin Borenstein, 1991. "Selling Costs and Switching Costs: Explaining Retail Gasoline Margins," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(3), pages 354-369, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Severin Boreinstein & Andrea Shepard, 1996. "Dynamic Pricing in Retail Gasoline Markets," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(3), pages 429-451, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Ronald Johnson, 2002. "Search Costs, Lags and Prices at the Pump," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 33-50, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Blass, Asher A & Carlton, Dennis W, 2001. "The Choice of Organizational Form in Gasoline Retailing and the Cost of Laws That Limit That Choice," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(2), pages 511-24, October.
  15. Bacon, Robert W., 1991. "Rockets and feathers: the asymmetric speed of adjustment of UK retail gasoline prices to cost changes," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 211-218, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Rod Anderson & Ronald Johnson, 1999. "Antitrust and Sales-Below-Cost Laws: The Case of Retail Gasoline," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 189-204, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Nauges, Celine & Thomas, Alban, 2008. "Clean Air regulation and heterogeneity in US gasoline prices," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 106-122, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Joris Pinkse & Margaret E. Slade & Craig Brett, 2002. "Spatial Price Competition: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(3), pages 1111-1153, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Brown, Jennifer & Hastings, Justine & Mansur, Erin T. & Villas-Boas, Sofia B., 2008. "Reformulating competition Gasoline content regulation and wholesale gasoline prices," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-19, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  20. Vita, Michael G, 2000. "Regulatory Restrictions on Vertical Integration and Control: The Competitive Impact of Gasoline Divorcement Policies," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 217-33, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Hayley Chouinard & Jeffrey Perloff, 2002. "Gasoline Price Differences: Taxes, Pollution Regulations, Mergers, Market Power, and Market Conditions," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series 951, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  22. Borenstein, Severin & Cameron, A Colin & Gilbert, Richard, 1997. "Do Gasoline Prices Respond Asymmetrically to Crude Oil Price Changes?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(1), pages 305-39, February.
    Other versions:
  23. Michael C. Davis & James D. Hamilton, 2003. "Why Are Prices Sticky? The Dynamics of Wholesale Gasoline Prices," NBER Working Papers 9741, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  24. Severin Borenstein & Andrea Shepard, 1996. "Sticky Prices, Inventories, and Market Power in Wholesale Gasoline Markets," NBER Working Papers 5468, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Adriana Z. Fernandez & Robert W. Gilmer & Jonathon L. Story, 2007. "Gasoline content regulation as a trade barrier: do boutique fuels discourage fuel imports?," Working Papers 0709, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? Citation analysis on IDEAS includes online papers that are freely accessible and whose text could be automatically analyzed, currently about 210000 papers.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-3.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.