Abstract

Stricter environmental standards on gasoline have had impacts on the prices of gasoline including the seasonality of gasoline prices. Using both national data and individual station data, the paper tests for a possible explanation for this increase. Three theories are tested: that gasoline seasonality increases due to higher costs, due to greater market power because of segmented markets, or due to greater asymmetry because of greater inattention on the part of customers. The results suggest that gasoline price seasonality has increased both due to higher costs and greater market power with mixed results on the inattention of consumers.(JEL Q41, Q53, Q58).

Department(s)

Economics

Comments

This research is partially funded by a grant from the University of Missouri Research Board.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1074-3529; 1465-7287

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2020 Western Economic Association International, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2021

Included in

Economics Commons

Share

 
COinS