IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v69y2014icp179-188.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modelling how much extra motorists pay on the road? A cross-sectional study of profit margins of unleaded petrol in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Valadkhani, Abbas
  • Babacan, Alperhan

Abstract

Gross profitability margin (difference between retail and wholesale prices) for unleaded petrol exhibits substantial variations across 108 cities, towns and regional centres in Australia. This paper examines if such variations (averaged during 2007–2012) can be explained by (a) transport costs proxied by the distance between retailers and wholesalers; (b) the size of the retail market; (c) market competition proxied by the number of cars in the vicinity of the retailers; (d) dummy variables capturing other qualitative attributes associated with the retailers’ locations. Three cross-sectional regressions are estimated but only one successfully passes all diagnostic tests. By identifying a number of locations exhibiting excessive profit margins, the results of this paper enhance the efficiency and transparency of petrol pricing in the retail market. It is found that the extent of excessive profiteering in Western Australia (WA) and South Australia (SA) were lower than other Australian states and territories. This important finding can be explained by a strong presence of independent petrol stations in SA and the successful price-monitoring performance of FuelWatch in WA.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:69:y:2014:i:c:p:179-188
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2014.02.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421514000998
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.02.010?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. repec:wyi:journl:002112 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. 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.
    3. Zongwu Cai & Qi Li, 2013. "Some Recent Develop- ments on Nonparametric Econometrics," Working Papers 2013-10-14, Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE), Xiamen University.
    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. 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.
    6. de Roos, Nicolas, 2004. "A model of collusion timing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 351-387, March.
    7. Vladimir Karamychev & Peran van Reeven, 2009. "Why Fuel Surcharges may be Anticompetitive," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 43(2), pages 141-155, May.
    8. Reilly, Barry & Witt, Robert, 1998. "Petrol price asymmetries revisited," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 297-308, June.
    9. Maskin, Eric & Tirole, Jean, 1988. "A Theory of Dynamic Oligopoly, II: Price Competition, Kinked Demand Curves, and Edgeworth Cycles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(3), pages 571-599, May.
    10. Abrantes-Metz, Rosa M. & Froeb, Luke M. & Geweke, John & Taylor, Christopher T., 2006. "A variance screen for collusion," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 467-486, May.
    11. 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.
    12. Peran van Reeven, 2011. "On the Effectiveness of Pricing Urban Car Usage," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 45(3), pages 367-381, September.
    13. Mitchell, Jason D & Lian Ong, Li & Izan, H.Y, 2000. "Idiosyncrasies in Australian petrol price behaviour: evidence of seasonalities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 243-258, April.
    14. Lance J. Bachmeier & James M. Griffin, 2003. "New Evidence on Asymmetric Gasoline Price Responses," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(3), pages 772-776, August.
    15. Severin Borenstein & A. Colin Cameron & Richard Gilbert, 1997. "Do Gasoline Prices Respond Asymmetrically to Crude Oil Price Changes?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 112(1), pages 305-339.
    16. Valadkhani, Abbas, 2013. "Modelling the terminal gate prices of unleaded petrol in Australia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 233-243.
    17. Maharashtra Government, 2007. "Commission of Inquiry," Working Papers id:915, eSocialSciences.
    18. Kaufmann, Robert K. & Laskowski, Cheryl, 2005. "Causes for an asymmetric relation between the price of crude oil and refined petroleum products," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 1587-1596, August.
    19. George Ford, 2011. "An investigation into the relationship of retail gas prices on oil company profitability," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(27), pages 4033-4041.
    20. Valadkhani, Abbas, 2013. "Seasonal patterns in daily prices of unleaded petrol across Australia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 720-731.
    21. Angelopoulou, Eleni & Gibson, Heather D., 2010. "The determinants of retail petrol prices in Greece," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1537-1542, November.
    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. 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. 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.
    3. Valadkhani, Abbas & Smyth, Russell & Vahid, Farshid, 2015. "Asymmetric pricing of diesel at its source," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PA), pages 183-194.
    4. Arezoo Ghazanfari, 2022. "What Drives Petrol Price Dispersion across Australian Cities?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-24, August.

    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. Valadkhani, Abbas, 2013. "Modelling the terminal gate prices of unleaded petrol in Australia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 233-243.
    2. 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.
    3. Valadkhani, Abbas, 2010. "Modelling the Price of Unleaded Petrol in Australia’s Capital Cities," MPRA Paper 50396, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Valadkhani, Abbas, 2009. "Do Retail Petrol Prices Rise More Rapidly Than They Fall in Australia’s Capital Cities?," Economics Working Papers wp09-08, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
    5. Valadkhani, Abbas & Smyth, Russell & Vahid, Farshid, 2015. "Asymmetric pricing of diesel at its source," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PA), pages 183-194.
    6. Justus Haucap & Ulrich Heimeshoff & Manuel Siekmann, 2017. "Fuel Prices and Station Heterogeneity on Retail Gasoline Markets," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 6).
    7. Cook, Steven & Fosten, Jack, 2019. "Replicating rockets and feathers," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 139-151.
    8. Jordi Perdiguero-García, 2010. "“Symmetric or asymmetric gasoline prices? A metaanalysis approach”," IREA Working Papers 201013, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Nov 2010.
    9. Giliola Frey & Matteo Manera, 2007. "Econometric Models Of Asymmetric Price Transmission," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 349-415, April.
    10. Polemis, Michael L. & Fotis, Panagiotis N., 2014. "The taxation effect on gasoline price asymmetry nexus: Evidence from both sides of the Atlantic," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 225-233.
    11. Haucap, Justus & Heimeshoff, Ulrich & Siekmann, Manuel, 2015. "Price dispersion and station heterogeneity on German retail gasoline markets," DICE Discussion Papers 171, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    12. Perdiguero-García, Jordi, 2013. "Symmetric or asymmetric oil prices? A meta-analysis approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 389-397.
    13. Liu, Ming-Hua & Margaritis, Dimitris & Zhang, Yang, 2016. "Competition and petrol pricing in the smartphone era: Evidence from Singapore," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 144-155.
    14. 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.
    15. Michael Polemis, 2012. "Competition and price asymmetries in the Greek oil sector: an empirical analysis on gasoline market," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 789-817, October.
    16. Kristoufek, Ladislav & Lunackova, Petra, 2015. "Rockets and feathers meet Joseph: Reinvestigating the oil–gasoline asymmetry on the international markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-8.
    17. Bragoudakis, Zacharias & Degiannakis, Stavros & Filis, George, 2019. "Oil and pump prices: Is there any asymmetry in the Greek oil downstream sector?," MPRA Paper 95407, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Bragoudakis, Zacharias & Degiannakis, Stavros & Filis, George, 2020. "Oil and pump prices: Testing their asymmetric relationship in a robust way," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    19. Radchenko, Stanislav, 2005. "Oil price volatility and the asymmetric response of gasoline prices to oil price increases and decreases," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 708-730, September.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Petrol; Profit margin; Australia;
    All these keywords.

    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:enepol:v:69:y:2014:i:c:p:179-188. 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/enpol .

    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.