Uniform Gasoline Price Regulation: Consequences for Consumer Welfare

Michael Keeley and Kenneth Elzinga

International Journal of the Economics of Business, 2003, vol. 10, issue 2, 157-168

Abstract: In this paper, we assess the long-run implications for consumer welfare of proposed uniform gasoline price regulation. Such regulation would allow lessee dealers to ignore the terms of their lease agreements and purchase gasoline at the 'rack' (i.e., a wholesale distribution terminal) or from whomever and wherever they choose (most typically a 'jobber', i.e., an independent distributor). We show that such regulation would harm consumer welfare by raising wholesale and retail prices without benefiting lessee dealers. Prices would increase because the proposed regulation would prohibit efficient pricing that reflects differences in costs and demand that vary by geographic area and by type of distribution. We also show that even under the assumption that price differences result solely from price discrimination, uniform price regulation will not necessarily benefit consumers or all lessee dealers.

Keywords: Gasoline Price Regulation; Uniform Price Regulation; Gasoline Distribution; Open Supply; Rack Price; Dtw Price (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13571510305062 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:ijecbs:v:10:y:2003:i:2:p:157-168

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CIJB20

DOI: 10.1080/13571510305062

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of the Economics of Business is currently edited by Eleanor Morgan

More articles in International Journal of the Economics of Business from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().