The Price of Gasoline and New Vehicle Fuel Economy: Evidence from Monthly Sales Data

Thomas H. Klier and Joshua Linn ()

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2010, vol. 2, issue 3, pages 134-53

Abstract: This paper uses a unique dataset of monthly new vehicle sales by detailed model from 1978 to 2007, and implements a new identification strategy to estimate the effect of the price of gasoline on individual vehicle model sales. We control for unobserved vehicle and consumer characteristics by using within model year changes in the price of gasoline and sales. We find a significant sales response, suggesting that the gasoline price increase from 2002 to 2007 explains nearly half of the decline in market share of US manufacturers. On the other hand, an increase in the gasoline tax would only modestly raise average fuel economy. (JEL H25, L11, L62, L71)

JEL-codes: H25 L11 L62 L71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
Note: DOI: 10.1257/pol.2.3.134
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