An empirical analysis of the spatial variability of fuel prices in the United States

Antonin Bergeaud and Juste Raimbault ()
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Juste Raimbault: Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL - UCL - University College of London [London], ISC-PIF - Institut des Systèmes Complexes - Paris Ile-de-France - ENS Cachan - École normale supérieure - Cachan - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - Institut Curie [Paris] - SU - Sorbonne Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, GC (UMR_8504) - Géographie-cités - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: In this paper, we use a newly constructed dataset to study the geographic distribution of fuel price across the US at a very high resolution. We study the influence of socio-economic variables through different and complementary statistical methods. We highlight an optimal spatial range roughly corresponding to stationarity scale, and significant influence of variables such as median income, wage with a non-simple spatial behavior that confirms the importance of geographical particularities. On the other hand, multi-level modeling reveals a strong influence of the state in the level of price but also of some local characteristics including population density. Through the combination of such methods, we unveil the superposition of a governance process with a local socio-economical spatial process. The influence of population density on prices is furthermore consistent with a minimal theoretical model of competition between gas stations, that we introduce and solve numerically. We discuss developments and applications, including the elaboration of locally parametrized car-regulation policies.

Keywords: ACL; PARIS team (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-02
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2020, 132, pp.131-143. ⟨10.1016/j.tra.2019.10.016⟩

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Journal Article: An empirical analysis of the spatial variability of fuel prices in the United States (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02370106

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2019.10.016

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