IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecanpo/v57y2018icp44-59.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of major fuel retailers on regional New South Wales petrol prices

Author

Listed:
  • Oczkowski, Edward
  • Wong, Alfred
  • Sharma, Kishor

Abstract

Consumer discontent suggests the lack of competition and the absence of independent retailers in Australian regional centres maintains upward pressure on petrol prices. These claims are examined by estimating a reduced form price model to assess the impact that major retailer market concentration, station density, brand effects and other variables may have on prices. Employing data from the New South Wales government’s mandatory FuelCheck reporting system, higher degrees of market concentration and lower station density in regional centres are found to impact prices positively. These findings are robust across data types including: individual station level retail prices, regional averages, retailer margins and alternative Australian Competition and Consumer Commission data. The negative price impacts of introducing an additional non-major retailer are estimated for individual regional centres and on average range from one half to one and half cents per litre depending on fuel type. These estimates appear to be small which, in part, may be the consequence of the sample focus on regional centres only and the introduction of FuelCheck and its objective to improve price transparency in the market.

Suggested Citation

  • Oczkowski, Edward & Wong, Alfred & Sharma, Kishor, 2018. "The impact of major fuel retailers on regional New South Wales petrol prices," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 44-59.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:57:y:2018:i:c:p:44-59
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2017.10.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0313592617301686
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eap.2017.10.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anindya Sen & Peter G.C. Townley, 2010. "Estimating the Impacts of Outlet Rationalization on Retail Prices, Industry Concentration, and Sales: Empirical Evidence from Canadian Gasoline Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 605-633, September.
    2. David P. Byrne, 2012. "Petrol Price Cycles," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 45(4), pages 497-506, December.
    3. David P. Byrne & Nicolas de Roos, 2017. "Consumer Search in Retail Gasoline Markets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(1), pages 183-193, March.
    4. Abbas Valadkhani & William F. Mitchell, 2002. "Assessing the Impact of Changes in Petroleum Prices on Inflation and Household Expenditures in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 35(2), pages 122-132, June.
    5. Demet Yilmazkuday & Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2016. "Understanding gasoline price dispersion," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 57(1), pages 223-252, July.
    6. Edward Oczkowski, 2001. "Hedonic Wine Price Functions and Measurement Error," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 77(239), pages 374-382, December.
    7. Gerhard Clemenz & Klaus Gugler, 2006. "Locational choice and price competition: some empirical results for the austrian retail gasoline market," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 291-312, June.
    8. Hashimi, Hasham & Jeffreys, Ian, 2016. "The impact of lengthening petrol price cycles on consumer purchasing behaviour," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 130-137.
    9. Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2009. "Spatial price competition in retail gasoline markets: evidence from Austria," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 43(1), pages 133-158, March.
    10. Chua, Chew Lian & De Silva, Chamaka & Suardi, Sandy, 2017. "Do petrol prices increase faster than they fall in market disequilibria?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 135-146.
    11. Oczkowski, Edward, 2001. "Hedonic Wine Price Functions and Measurement Error," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 77(239), pages 374-382, December.
    12. Pesaran, M Hashem & Taylor, Larry W, 1999. "Diagnostics for IV Regressions," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(2), pages 255-281, May.
    13. Andrew Eckert, 2013. "Empirical Studies Of Gasoline Retailing: A Guide To The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 140-166, February.
    14. Barron, John M. & Taylor, Beck A. & Umbeck, John R., 2004. "Number of sellers, average prices, and price dispersion," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1041-1066, November.
    15. Valadkhani, Abbas, 2013. "Seasonal patterns in daily prices of unleaded petrol across Australia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 720-731.
    16. Pesaran, M Hashem & Smith, Richard J, 1994. "A Generalized R[superscript]2 Criterion for Regression Models Estimated by the Instrumental Variables Method," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(3), pages 705-710, May.
    17. M. Hashem Pesaran & Larry W. Taylor, 1999. "Diagnostics for IV Regressions," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(2), pages 255-281, May.
    18. Valadkhani, Abbas & Babacan, Alperhan, 2014. "Modelling how much extra motorists pay on the road? A cross-sectional study of profit margins of unleaded petrol in Australia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 179-188.
    19. Valadkhani, Abbas, 2013. "Do petrol prices rise faster than they fall when the market shows significant disequilibria?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 66-80.
    20. Sharma, Kishor & Oczkowski, Edward & Hicks, John, 2016. "Skill shortages in regional Australia: A local perspective from the Riverina," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 34-44.
    21. Hosken, Daniel S. & McMillan, Robert S. & Taylor, Christopher T., 2008. "Retail gasoline pricing: What do we know?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1425-1436, November.
    22. Thomas E. Cooper & John T. Jones, 2007. "Asymmetric Competition on Commuter Routes: The Case of Gasoline Pricing," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(2), pages 483-504, October.
    23. Valadkhani, Abbas, 2013. "Modelling the terminal gate prices of unleaded petrol in Australia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 233-243.
    24. Nicolas de Roos & Hajime Katayama, 2013. "Gasoline Price Cycles Under Discrete Time Pricing," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 89(285), pages 175-193, June.
    25. Zhongmin Wang, 2009. "(Mixed) Strategy in Oligopoly Pricing: Evidence from Gasoline Price Cycles Before and Under a Timing Regulation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(6), pages 987-1030, December.
    26. Xiaoming Ning & Robert Haining, 2003. "Spatial Pricing in Interdependent Markets: A Case Study of Petrol Retailing in Sheffield," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(12), pages 2131-2159, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Balaguer, Jacint & Ripollés, Jordi, 2021. "Does multimarket contact affect prices in the retail fuel industry? First empirical evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Wojciech Golimowski & Paweł Krzaczek & Damian Marcinkowski & Weronika Gracz & Grzegorz Wałowski, 2019. "Impact of Biogas and Waste Fats Methyl Esters on NO, NO 2 , CO, and PM Emission by Dual Fuel Diesel Engine," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-16, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arezoo Ghazanfari & Armin Razmjoo, 2022. "The Effect of Market Isolation on Competitive Behavior in Retail Petrol Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-33, July.
    2. Jing Xu & Alan T. Murray, 2019. "Spatial variability in retail gasoline markets," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 581-603, June.
    3. Bergantino, Angela Stefania & Capozza, Claudia & Intini, Mario, 2018. "Empirical investigation of retail gasoline prices," Working Papers 18_5, SIET Società Italiana di Economia dei Trasporti e della Logistica.
    4. Balaguer, Jacint & Ripollés, Jordi, 2020. "Do classes of gas stations contribute differently to fuel prices? Evidence to foster effective competition in Spain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Arezoo Ghazanfari, 2022. "What Drives Petrol Price Dispersion across Australian Cities?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-24, August.
    6. Satoh, Eiji & Iwase, Ryusuke & Kamakura, Keita & Sawasato, Shinji & Tominaga, Saki, 2018. "Consumer search costs, geographical concentration, and retail gasoline pricing: Evidence from inland Japan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-8.
    7. Michal Kvasnička, 2022. "Can we ignore spatial dependence when evaluating mergers?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1323-1344, March.
    8. Balaguer, Jacint & Ripollés, Jordi, 2021. "Does multimarket contact affect prices in the retail fuel industry? First empirical evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    9. Demet Yilmazkuday & Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2016. "Understanding gasoline price dispersion," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 57(1), pages 223-252, July.
    10. Jens‐Peter Loy & Dieter Pennerstorfer & Daniela Rroshi & Christoph Weiss & Biliana Yontcheva, 2022. "Consumer Information and Price Transmission: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 631-683, September.
    11. Valadkhani, Abbas & Anwar, Sajid & Ghazanfari, Arezoo & Nguyen, Jeremy, 2021. "Are petrol retailers less responsive to changes in wholesale or crude oil prices when they face lower competition? The case of Greater Sydney," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    12. Valadkhani, Abbas & Smyth, Russell & Vahid, Farshid, 2015. "Asymmetric pricing of diesel at its source," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PA), pages 183-194.
    13. Elliott, Robert & Sun, Puyang & Zhu, Tong, 2020. "Shell shocked: The impact of foreign entry on the gasoline retail market in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    14. Nguyen-Ones, Mai & Steen, Frode, 2018. "Measuring Market Power in Gasoline Retailing: A Market- or Station Phenomenon?," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 6/2018, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    15. Noel, Michael D. & Qiang, Hongjie, 2019. "The role of information in retail gasoline price dispersion," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 173-187.
    16. Valadkhani, Abbas & Smyth, Russell, 2018. "Asymmetric responses in the timing, and magnitude, of changes in Australian monthly petrol prices to daily oil price changes," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 89-100.
    17. repec:dgr:rugsom:14027-eef is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Bruzikas, Tadas & Soetevent, Adriaan, 2014. "Detailed data and changes in market structure," Research Report 14027-EEF, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    19. Bergantino, Angela S. & Capozza, Claudia & Intini, Mario, 2020. "Empirical investigation of retail fuel pricing: The impact of spatial interaction, competition and territorial factors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    20. Koh, Kanghyok & Jeon, Sungho & Lee, Jinhyuk, 2022. "The effects of price competition on firms' operations and market price: Evidence from a retail gasoline market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    21. Palencia-González, Francisco J. & Navío-Marco, Julio & Juberías-Cáceres, Gema, 2020. "Analysis of brand influence in the rockets and feathers effect using disaggregated data," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Petrol prices; Market concentration; Regional markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L91 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Transportation: General
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:57:y:2018:i:c:p:44-59. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/economic-analysis-and-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.