Essays in empirical industrial organization

This dissertation studies pricing behavior in the retail gasoline market. The main research questions are: How does traffic congestion affect market power of gas stations? How does traffic congestion affect equilibrium price dispersion between gas stations? Is gasoline price cycle consistent with Edgeworth Cycle in terms of how their shapes respond to aggregate demand elasticity? These questions are explored in three separate chapters respectively using unique datasets comprised of station-level gasoline price data and direction-specific road-level traffic data from metropolitan Sydney and the rest of New South Wales. Evidence from chapter 2 suggests that traffic congestion, through its impact on spatial friction for consumers, dampens the intensity of price competition between gas stations. In chapter 3, traffic congestion is found to have an impact on equilibrium price dispersion between gas stations. Finally in chapter 4, I establish new empirical evidence which suggests that gasoline price cycles are consistent with Edgeworth Cycles. Insights from this dissertation can inform public agencies who are concerned with addressing the issue of traffic congestion and regulators who are concerned with competition and pricing behavior in the retail gasoline industry.

• Record URL:
  http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240530
• Supplemental Notes:
  • PhD thesis
• Authors:
  • Xue, P
• Publication Date: 2020

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 1 file

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Competition; Costs; Economic analysis; Fuels; Traffic congestion
• Geographic Terms: New South Wales
• ATRI Terms: Case study; Competition; Demand elasticity; Economic analysis; Fuel costs; Traffic congestion
• ITRD Terms: 8531: Case study; 632: Congestion (traffic); 285: Demand (econ); 263: Economics of transport
• Subject Areas: Economics; Energy; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01771297
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB Group Limited
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: May 7 2021 10:08AM