GASOLINE USE BY AUTOMOBILES

This paper describes research on the demand for gasoline by automobile drivers. It discusses the relationship between the ownership of and the use and fuel consumption of automobiles. In view of the difficulty in relating behavioral hypotheses about individuals and households to aggregate data, the intricacies of the new- and used- automobile markets are presented. Aggregate gasoline demand models are reviewed and, where available, short-run price elasticities of gasoline are given. Variables, functional forms, and levels of aggregation are indicated. A method of integrating time-series and cross-sectional automobile data and a hypothesis about the prices of services of different sorts of automobiles are discussed. Two other models that simultaneously treat the demand for automobiles and gasoline are reviewed: They are based on (a) the different size clases of new automobiles and aggregate automobile travel as the jointly dependent variables and (b) the new- and used-car markets and aggregate automobile travel as the interrelated entities. These models used on ly annual data at the national level. Our empirical analysis consists of a single equation model for which the dependent variable is per capita gasoline consumption. The predetermined set includes a lagged dependent variable, demand for new automobiles, deflated gasoline price, and gasoline consumption per automobile at the annual and national levels. Some alternate forms of the hypotheses are given, and the results of estimation are presented and compared. The most reasonable specification produces a short-run gasoline price elasticity estimate of -0.23, a result midway among those of other investigators who have based estimated elasticities on similar data sets.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1976/561/561-005.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=GASOLINE+USE+BY+AUTOMOBILES&author=R.+MCGILLIVRAY&publication_year=1976
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309024714
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Energy Conservation and Transportation Demand. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • MCGILLIVRAY, ROBERT G
• Conference:
  • 54th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia
  • Date: 1975-1-13 to 1975-1-17
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 45-56
• Monograph Title: Transportation Energy Conservation and Demand
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 561
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile ownership; Automobiles; Demand; Economics; Energy; Equations; Fuel consumption; Gasoline; Mathematical models; Mechanical elasticity; Prices; Size; Transportation; Vehicle classification
• Uncontrolled Terms: Models
• Subject Areas: Economics; Energy; Geotechnology; Materials; Safety and Human Factors; Society; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00134007
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309024714
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jul 13 1976 12:00AM