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Understanding Gasoline Price Dispersion

Author

Listed:
  • Demet Yilmazkuday

    (Department of Economics, Florida International University)

  • Hakan Yilmazkuday

    (Department of Economics, Florida International University)

Abstract

This paper models and estimates the gasoline price dispersion across time and space by using a unique data set at the gas-station level within the U.S.. Nationwide effects (measured by time fixed effects or crude oil prices) explain up to about 51% of the gasoline price dispersion across stations. Refinery-specific costs, which have been ignored in the literature due to using local data sets within the U.S., contribute up to another 33% to the price dispersion. While state taxes explain about 12% of the price dispersion, spatial factors such as local agglomeration externalities, land prices, distribution costs of gasoline explain up to about 4%. The contribution of brand-specific factors is relatively minor.

Suggested Citation

  • Demet Yilmazkuday & Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2016. "Understanding Gasoline Price Dispersion," Working Papers 1602, Florida International University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:fiu:wpaper:1602
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Understanding Gasoline Price Dispersion
      by Hakan Yilmazkuday in Hakan Yilmazkuday's Blog on 2016-06-13 20:05:00

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Demet Yilmazkuday & Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2019. "Redistributive Effects of Gasoline Prices," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 109-124, March.
    5. Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2021. "COVID-19 and Daily Oil Price Pass-Through," Energy RESEARCH LETTERS, Asia-Pacific Applied Economics Association, vol. 2(1), pages 1-6.
    6. Malloy Brandon, 2018. "The Supply Network and Price Dispersion in the Canadian Gasoline Market," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(2), pages 75-107, June.
    7. 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.
    8. Ren, Xiaohang & Lu, Zudi & Cheng, Cheng & Shi, Yukun & Shen, Jian, 2019. "On dynamic linkages of the state natural gas markets in the USA: Evidence from an empirical spatio-temporal network quantile analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 234-252.
    9. 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).
    10. Mark J. Holmes & Jesús Otero & Theodore Panagiotidis, 2022. "Convergence in retail gasoline prices: insights from Canadian cities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 68(1), pages 207-228, February.
    11. Arezoo Ghazanfari, 2022. "What Drives Petrol Price Dispersion across Australian Cities?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-24, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gasoline Prices; Gas-Station Level Analysis; Nighttime Lights; Land Prices; the United States;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
    • R32 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise

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