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OPEC’s market power: An Empirical Dominant Firm Model for the Oil Market

Author

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  • Golombek, Rolf

    (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research.)

  • Irarrazabal, Alfonso A.

    (BI Norwegian Business School)

  • Ma, Lin

    (School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences)

Abstract

We estimate a dominant firm-competitive fringe model for the crude oil market using quarterly data on oil prices for the 1986-2009 period. All estimated structural parameters have the expected sign and are significant. We find that OPEC exercised market power during the sample period. Counterfactual experiments indicate that world GDP is the main driver of long-run oil prices, however, supply (depletion) factors have become more important in recent years.

Suggested Citation

  • Golombek, Rolf & Irarrazabal, Alfonso A. & Ma, Lin, 2015. "OPEC’s market power: An Empirical Dominant Firm Model for the Oil Market," Memorandum 21/2015, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:osloec:2015_021
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    5. Yue Liu & Hao Dong & Pierre Failler, 2019. "The Oil Market Reactions to OPEC’s Announcements," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-15, August.
    6. Kisswani, Khalid M. & Lahiani, Amine & Mefteh-Wali, Salma, 2022. "An analysis of OPEC oil production reaction to non-OPEC oil supply," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    7. Musa Abdu & Adamu Jibir, 2019. "Sources of Market Power among Firms in Sub-Saharan Africa: Do Institutions Matter in Competitive Policies?," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 115-148, July-Dec.
    8. Refk Selmi & Shawkat Hammoudeh & Mark E. Wohar, 2023. "What drives most jumps in global crude oil prices? Fundamental shortage conditions, cartel, geopolitics or the behaviour of financial market participants," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 598-618, March.
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    10. Peter Kjær Kruse-Andersen & Peter Birch Sørensen, 2021. "Opimal Unilateral Climate Policy with Carbon Leakage at the Extensive and the Intensive Margin," CESifo Working Paper Series 9185, CESifo.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Oil; dominant firm; market power; OPEC; Lerner index; oil demand elasticity; oil supply elasticity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • Q31 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Demand and Supply; Prices

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