Fueling expectations: The causal impact of gas prices on Inflation Expectations
Yoon Joo Jo and
Ben Klopack
Journal of Monetary Economics, 2025, vol. 153, issue C
Abstract:
We investigate the effects of temporary state-level gas tax suspensions on inflation expectations. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we show that households in states that lower the gas tax reduce their inflation expectations, but the impact of the policy depends on how much of the tax cut was passed through to prices. We provide new causal evidence of the link between gas prices and household inflation expectations and demonstrate that gas prices play a more significant role in shaping inflation expectations than previously suggested in the literature. We also show experimental evidence that informing households about the tax reduction leads them to adjust their inflation expectations downward. However, we do not find evidence that temporary gas tax suspensions had a stimulative effect on consumption. These findings underscore the potential for alternative policy levers to influence household beliefs and behavior.
Keywords: Inflation expectations; Survey; Gas prices; Gas tax holiday (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C83 D84 E21 E31 E71 H20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304393225000686
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:moneco:v:153:y:2025:i:c:s0304393225000686
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2025.103797
Access Statistics for this article
Journal of Monetary Economics is currently edited by R. G. King and C. I. Plosser
More articles in Journal of Monetary Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().