IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v144y2025ics0140988325001902.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring cross-border energy policies and their impact on gasoline prices in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Bergantino, Angela S.
  • Intini, Mario
  • Nademi, Younes
  • Nuzzo, Federica

Abstract

This study explores the interplay between regional energy policies and cross-border economic activities in the Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) region of Italy, with a particular focus on their impact on gasoline prices and the issue of fuel tourism. By analyzing weekly gasoline data through a Markov switching model, we investigate the dynamics of gasoline pricing strategies in response to regional discount policies designed to curtail cross-border fuel purchases. Our findings reveal that while these policies variably affect gasoline prices across different areas of the region, they generally result in higher net gasoline prices, especially in environments characterized by low-price and high-volatility. This research enhances our understanding of how local economic measures influence cross-border behaviors and evaluates the effectiveness of regional policies in stabilizing markets and mitigating economic leakages due to fuel tourism. Additionally, it underscores the necessity for a tailored policy approach that considers the unique economic dynamics of border regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Bergantino, Angela S. & Intini, Mario & Nademi, Younes & Nuzzo, Federica, 2025. "Exploring cross-border energy policies and their impact on gasoline prices in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:144:y:2025:i:c:s0140988325001902
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2025.108366
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988325001902
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2025.108366?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. Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Linda L. Tesar, 2009. "Border Effect or Country Effect? Seattle May Not Be So Far from Vancouver After All," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 219-241, January.
    2. Mamipour, Siab & Salem, Ali Asghar & Sayadi, Mohammad & Azizkhani, Masoumeh, 2023. "Retail gasoline pricing in a subsidized energy market: An empirical analysis from AIDS model for Iran," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    3. Chouinard, Hayley & Perloff, Jeffrey M., 2004. "Incidence of federal and state gasoline taxes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 55-60, April.
    4. Hansen, Bruce E, 1992. "The Likelihood Ratio Test under Nonstandard Conditions: Testing the Markov Switching Model of GNP," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(S), pages 61-82, Suppl. De.
    5. Mark D. Manuszak & Charles C. Moul, 2009. "How Far for a Buck? Tax Differences and the Location of Retail Gasoline Activity in Southeast Chicagoland," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(4), pages 744-765, November.
    6. Doyle Jr., Joseph J. & Samphantharak, Krislert, 2008. "$2.00 Gas! Studying the effects of a gas tax moratorium," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3-4), pages 869-884, April.
    7. 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.
    8. Leal, Andrés & López-Laborda, Julio & Rodrigo, Fernando, 2009. "Prices, taxes and automotive fuel cross-border shopping," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 225-234.
    9. Simon Porcher & Thomas Porcher, 2018. "Fuel taxes and consumer behaviour: a Markov-switching approach," International Journal of Global Energy Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 41(1/2/3/4), pages 14-24.
    10. Dovern, Jonas & Frank, Johannes & Glas, Alexander & Müller, Lena Sophia & Perico Ortiz, Daniel, 2023. "Estimating pass-through rates for the 2022 tax reduction on fuel prices in Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    11. Tiezzi, Silvia & Verde, Stefano F., 2016. "Differential demand response to gasoline taxes and gasoline prices in the U.S," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 71-91.
    12. Mattioli, Giulio & Philips, Ian & Anable, Jillian & Chatterton, Tim, 2019. "Vulnerability to motor fuel price increases: Socio-spatial patterns in England," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 98-114.
    13. Boroumand, Raphaël Homayoun & Goutte, Stéphane & Porcher, Simon & Porcher, Thomas, 2016. "Asymmetric evidence of gasoline price responses in France: A Markov-switching approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 467-476.
    14. 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).
    15. Cassetta, Ernesto & Nava, Consuelo R. & Zoia, Maria Grazia, 2022. "EU electricity market integration and cross-country convergence in residential and industrial end-user prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    16. Mats P. Kahl, 2020. "Impact of Cross-Border Competition on the German Retail Gasoline Market – German-Polish Border," Working Paper Series in Economics 392, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    17. Drolsbach, Chiara Patricia & Gail, Maximilian Maurice & Klotz, Phil-Adrian, 2023. "Pass-through of Temporary Fuel Tax Reductions: Evidence from Europe," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277655, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Wojciech Kopczuk & Justin Marion & Erich Muehlegger & Joel Slemrod, 2016. "Does Tax-Collection Invariance Hold? Evasion and the Pass-Through of State Diesel Taxes," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 251-286, May.
    19. Mohcine Bakhat & Jaume Roselló, 2011. "Tourism Induced Contribution to Diesel Oil and Gasoline Consumption," Working Papers 05-2011, Economics for Energy.
    20. Abounoori, Esmaiel & Elmi, Zahra (Mila) & Nademi, Younes, 2016. "Forecasting Tehran stock exchange volatility; Markov switching GARCH approach," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 445(C), pages 264-282.
    21. Jacint Balaguer & Jordi Ripollés, 2018. "Revisiting the importance of border effect in sub‐national regions. Evidence from a quasi‐experimental design," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(4), pages 1113-1130, November.
    22. Alex Kihm & Nolan Ritter & Colin Vance, 2016. "Is the German Retail Gasoline Market Competitive? A Spatial-Temporal Analysis Using Quantile Regression," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 92(4), pages 718-736.
    23. Xulia González & María J. Moral, 2023. "Competition and Competitors: Evidence from the Retail Fuel Market," The Energy Journal, , vol. 44(6), pages 163-188, November.
    24. Michael Pfaffermayr, 2009. "Maximum Likelihood Estimation of a General Unbalanced Spatial Random Effects Model: a Monte Carlo Study," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(4), pages 467-483.
    25. Jansen, David-Jan & Jonker, Nicole, 2018. "Fuel tourism in Dutch border regions: Are only salient price differentials relevant?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 143-153.
    26. Øystein Foros & Frode Steen, 2013. "Vertical Control and Price Cycles in Gasoline Retailing," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 115(3), pages 640-661, July.
    27. Ederington, Louis H. & Fernando, Chitru S. & Lee, Thomas K. & Linn, Scott C. & Zhang, Huiming, 2021. "The relation between petroleum product prices and crude oil prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    28. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    29. Michael Pfaffermayr, 2013. "The Cliff and Ord Test for Spatial Correlation of the Disturbances in Unbalanced Panel Models," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 36(4), pages 492-506, October.
    30. 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.
    31. Rietveld, P. & Bruinsma, F. R. & van Vuuren, D. J., 2001. "Spatial graduation of fuel taxes; consequences for cross-border and domestic fuelling," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 433-457, June.
    32. Banfi, Silvia & Filippini, Massimo & Hunt, Lester C., 2005. "Fuel tourism in border regions: The case of Switzerland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 689-707, September.
    33. Drolsbach, Chiara Patricia & Gail, Maximilian Maurice & Klotz, Phil-Adrian, 2023. "Pass-through of temporary fuel tax reductions: Evidence from Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    34. Moshiri, Saeed, 2020. "Consumer responses to gasoline price and non-price policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Frederik von Waldow & Heike Link, 2024. "Spatial Competition and Pass-through of Fuel Taxes: Evidence from a Quasi-natural Experiment in Germany," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2086, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Kahl, Mats Petter, 2024. "Cross-border competition in the gasoline retail market: Impact of proximity at the German-Polish border," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    3. Jansen, David-Jan & Jonker, Nicole, 2018. "Fuel tourism in Dutch border regions: Are only salient price differentials relevant?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 143-153.
    4. 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).
    5. 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).
    6. Andrés Leal & Julio López-Laborda & Fernando Rodrigo, 2010. "Cross-Border Shopping: A Survey," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 16(2), pages 135-148, May.
    7. Susan Xu Tang & David L. Sjoquist, 2019. "Differential Effects of Federal and State Gasoline Taxes on Gasoline Consumption," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 229(2), pages 11-32, June.
    8. Fullerton, Thomas M. & Jiménez, Alan A. & Walke, Adam G., 2015. "An econometric analysis of retail gasoline prices in a border metropolitan economy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 450-461.
    9. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2017. "Cross-border commuting and consuming: an empirical investigation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(20), pages 2011-2026, April.
    10. Ander Iraizoz & José M Labeaga, 2022. "Incidence and Avoidance Effects of Spatial Fuel Tax Differentials: Evidence using Regional Tax Variation in Spain," Working Papers halshs-03789430, HAL.
    11. Perrier, Quentin & Geoffron, Patrice, 2024. "The benefits of elastic fuel taxation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    12. Leonardo C. B. Cardoso & Carlos Frederico A. Uchôa & Williams Huamani & David R. Just & Raúl V. Gomez, 2022. "Price effects of spatial competition in retail fuel markets: the impact of a new rival nearby," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(1), pages 81-105, February.
    13. Leal, Andrés & López-Laborda, Julio & Rodrigo, Fernando, 2009. "Prices, taxes and automotive fuel cross-border shopping," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 225-234.
    14. Desiderio Romero-Jordán & Marta Jorge Garc𫑉n鳠 & Santiago Álvarez Garc𨀍, 2013. "The impact of fuel tourism on retailers’ diesel price in Spanish neighbouring regions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 407-413, February.
    15. repec:kap:iaecre:v:16:y:2010:i:2:p:135-148 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Jordi J. Teixidó & F. Javier Palencia-González & José M. Labeaga & Xavier Labandeira, 2024. "Carbon Leakage from Fuel Taxes: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(12), pages 3235-3270, December.
    17. 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).
    18. Bergeaud, Antonin & Raimbault, Juste, 2020. "An empirical analysis of the spatial variability of fuel prices in the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 131-143.
    19. Francisco Manuel Pizzi, 2020. "¿Cuán lejos viajarías por nafta más barata? Efectos heterogéneos en ventas de combustibles ante un shock impositivo," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4389, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    20. Kaufmann, Robert K., 2019. "Pass-through of motor gasoline taxes: Efficiency and efficacy of environmental taxes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 207-215.
    21. Justus Haucap & Ulrich Heimeshoff & Manuel Siekmann, 2017. "Fuel Prices and Station Heterogeneity on Retail Gasoline Markets," The Energy Journal, , vol. 38(6), pages 81-104, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gasoline prices; Gasoline station strategies; Regional energy policies; Fuel tourism; Markov switching model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • C24 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models; Threshold Regression Models

    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:eneeco:v:144:y:2025:i:c:s0140988325001902. 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.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    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.