[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpaper/hal-02292332.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Competition and price stickiness: Evidence from the French retail gasoline market

Author

Listed:
  • Sylvain Benoît

    (LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres)

  • Yannick Lucotte

    (LEO - Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orleans [UMR7322] - UO - Université d'Orléans - UT - Université de Tours - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Sébastien Ringuedé

    (LEO - Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orleans [UMR6586] - UO - Université d'Orléans - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract
Using daily price quotes from about 8,000 French gas stations, this paper empirically analyses whether the level of competition determines the degree of price stickiness on the retail gasoline market. The degree of price rigidity is measured by the frequency of price changes, while the distance to the nearest station and the number of gas stations within a given radius are considered as proxies for local competition. The results confirm that local competition is an important determinant of the price-setting behavior of gas stations. Indeed, considering Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and spatial regression models, we find that the degree of price rigidity is positively related to the distance to the nearest station, and negatively related to the concentration of firms in a given geographical area. This result can be notably explained by the fact that gas stations facing a high competitive pressure are more likely to adjust their prices more quickly and more frequently in response to crude oil price decreases than stations enjoying market power.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylvain Benoît & Yannick Lucotte & Sébastien Ringuedé, 2019. "Competition and price stickiness: Evidence from the French retail gasoline market," Working Papers hal-02292332, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02292332
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02292332
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-02292332/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabiani, S. & Druant, M. & Hernando, I. & Kwapil, C. & Landau, B. & Loupias, C. & Martins, F. & Mathä, T. & Sabbatini, R. & Stahl, H. & Stockman, A., 2005. "The Pricing Behaviour of Firms in the Euro Area: New Survey Evidence," Working papers 135, Banque de France.
    2. Gerhard Clemenz & Klaus Gugler, 2009. "Locational choice and price competition: some empirical results for the austrian retail gasoline market," Studies in Empirical Economics, in: Giuseppe Arbia & Badi H. Baltagi (ed.), Spatial Econometrics, pages 223-244, Springer.
    3. Martin, Christopher, 1993. "Price adjustment and market structure," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 139-143.
    4. Cabral, Luís & Fishman, Arthur, 2012. "Business as usual: A consumer search theory of sticky prices and asymmetric price adjustment," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 371-376.
    5. Kihm, Alex & Ritter, Nolan & Vance, Colin, 2014. "Is the German Retail Gas Market Competitive? A Spatial-temporal Analysis Using Quantile Regression," Ruhr Economic Papers 522, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    6. Remer, Marc, 2015. "An empirical investigation of the determinants of asymmetric pricing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 46-56.
    7. Jesse M. Shapiro, 2013. "Fungibility and Consumer Choice: Evidence from Commodity Price Shocks," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(4), pages 1449-1498.
    8. Varian, Hal R, 1980. "A Model of Sales," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(4), pages 651-659, September.
    9. Douglas, Christopher C., 2010. "Do gasoline prices exhibit asymmetry? Not usually!," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 918-925, July.
    10. Erwan Gautier & Ronan Le Saout, 2015. "The Dynamics of Gasoline Prices: Evidence from Daily French Micro Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(6), pages 1063-1089, September.
    11. Green, Edward J & Porter, Robert H, 1984. "Noncooperative Collusion under Imperfect Price Information," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(1), pages 87-100, January.
    12. Ginsburgh, Victor & Michel, Philippe, 1988. "Adjustment Costs, Concentration and Price Behaviour," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 477-481, June.
    13. Dieter Pennerstorfer & Philipp Schmidt‐Dengler & Nicolas Schutz & Christoph Weiss & Biliana Yontcheva, 2020. "Information And Price Dispersion: Theory And Evidence," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 61(2), pages 871-899, May.
    14. Silvia Fabiani & Martine Druant & Ignacio Hernando & Claudia Kwapil & Bettina Landau & Claire Loupias & Fernando Martins & Thomas Mathä & Roberto Sabbatini & Harald Stahl & Ad Stokman, 2006. "What Firms' Surveys Tell Us about Price-Setting Behavior in the Euro Area," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 2(3), September.
    15. Marvel, Howard P, 1976. "The Economics of Information and Retail Gasoline Price Behavior: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(5), pages 1033-1060, October.
    16. Pennerstorfer, Dieter & Weiss, Christoph, 2013. "Spatial clustering and market power: Evidence from the retail gasoline market," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 661-675.
    17. Jeremy A. Verlinda, 2008. "Do Rockets Rise Faster And Feathers Fall Slower In An Atmosphere Of Local Market Power? Evidence From The Retail Gasoline Market," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 581-612, September.
    18. Luis J. Álvarez & Ignacio Hernando, 2006. "Competition and price adjustment in the euro area," Working Papers 0629, Banco de España.
    19. Felipe Balmaceda & Paula Soruco, 2008. "Asymmetric Dynamic Pricing In A Local Gasoline Retail Market," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 629-653, September.
    20. Matthew S. Lewis, 2011. "Asymmetric Price Adjustment and Consumer Search: An Examination of the Retail Gasoline Market," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 409-449, June.
    21. Mark Bils & Peter J. Klenow, 2004. "Some Evidence on the Importance of Sticky Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(5), pages 947-985, October.
    22. Justus Haucap & Ulrich Heimeshoff & Manuel Siekmann, 2017. "Fuel Prices and Station Heterogeneity on Retail Gasoline Markets," The Energy Journal, , vol. 38(6), pages 81-104, November.
    23. Michael D. Noel, 2007. "Edgeworth Price Cycles: Evidence From The Toronto Retail Gasoline Market," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 69-92, March.
    24. Paul Zimmerman & John Yun & Christopher Taylor, 2013. "Edgeworth Price Cycles in Gasoline: Evidence from the United States," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 42(3), pages 297-320, May.
    25. Sam Peltzman, 2000. "Prices Rise Faster than They Fall," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(3), pages 466-502, June.
    26. Chouinard Hayley H & Perloff Jeffrey M, 2007. "Gasoline Price Differences: Taxes, Pollution Regulations, Mergers, Market Power, and Market Conditions," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-28, January.
    27. Maskin, Eric & Tirole, Jean, 1988. "A Theory of Dynamic Oligopoly, II: Price Competition, Kinked Demand Curves, and Edgeworth Cycles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(3), pages 571-599, May.
    28. Steven C. Salop, 1979. "Monopolistic Competition with Outside Goods," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 141-156, Spring.
    29. Benjamin Atkinson & Andrew Eckert & Douglas S. West, 2009. "Price Matching And The Domino Effect In A Retail Gasoline Market," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 47(3), pages 568-588, July.
    30. Bacon, Robert W., 1991. "Rockets and feathers: the asymmetric speed of adjustment of UK retail gasoline prices to cost changes," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 211-218, July.
    31. Laurent Baudry & Hervé Le Bihan & Patrick Sevestre & Sylvie Tarrieu, 2007. "What do Thirteen Million Price Records have to Say about Consumer Price Rigidity?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(2), pages 139-183, April.
    32. David Cornille & Maarten Dossche, 2006. "The patterns and determinants of price setting in the Belgian industry," Working Paper Research 82, National Bank of Belgium.
    33. Weiss, Christoph R., 1995. "Determinants of price flexibility in oligopolistic markets: Evidence from austrian manufacturing," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(5), pages 423-439, December.
    34. Michael D. Noel, 2007. "Edgeworth Price Cycles, Cost-Based Pricing, and Sticky Pricing in Retail Gasoline Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(2), pages 324-334, May.
    35. Hosken, Daniel S. & McMillan, Robert S. & Taylor, Christopher T., 2008. "Retail gasoline pricing: What do we know?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1425-1436, November.
    36. Dixon, R J, 1983. "Industry Structure and the Speed of Price Adjustment," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 25-37, September.
    37. Jean-Francois Houde, 2012. "Spatial Differentiation and Vertical Mergers in Retail Markets for Gasoline," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 2147-2182, August.
    38. Hannan, Timothy H & Berger, Allen N, 1991. "The Rigidity of Prices: Evidence from the Banking Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(4), pages 938-945, September.
    39. Lance J. Bachmeier & James M. Griffin, 2003. "New Evidence on Asymmetric Gasoline Price Responses," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(3), pages 772-776, August.
    40. Severin Borenstein & A. Colin Cameron & Richard Gilbert, 1997. "Do Gasoline Prices Respond Asymmetrically to Crude Oil Price Changes?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 305-339.
    41. Huanxing Yang & Lixin Ye, 2008. "Search with learning: understanding asymmetric price adjustments," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(2), pages 547-564, June.
    42. Justine S. Hastings, 2004. "Vertical Relationships and Competition in Retail Gasoline Markets: Empirical Evidence from Contract Changes in Southern California," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 317-328, March.
    43. Eckert, Andrew & West, Douglas S., 2005. "Price uniformity and competition in a retail gasoline market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 219-237, February.
    44. Erwan Gautier & Ronan Le Saout, 2017. "L’ajustement microéconomique des prix des carburants en France," Economie & Prévision, La Documentation Française, vol. 0(1), pages 1-24.
    45. Carlton, Dennis W, 1986. "The Rigidity of Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 637-658, September.
    46. Andrew Eckert, 2013. "Empirical Studies Of Gasoline Retailing: A Guide To The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 140-166, February.
    47. Perdiguero-García, Jordi, 2013. "Symmetric or asymmetric oil prices? A meta-analysis approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 389-397.
    48. Michelle Harding, 2014. "The Diesel Differential: Differences in the Tax Treatment of Gasoline and Diesel for Road Use," OECD Taxation Working Papers 21, OECD Publishing.
    49. repec:zbw:rwirep:0522 is not listed on IDEAS
    50. George Deltas, 2008. "Retail Gasoline Price Dynamics And Local Market Power," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 613-628, September.
    51. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Price Rigidities and Market Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(2), pages 350-355, May.
    52. Eckert, Andrew, 2003. "Retail price cycles and the presence of small firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 151-170, February.
    53. Matthew S. Lewis, 2015. "Odd Prices at Retail Gasoline Stations: Focal Point Pricing and Tacit Collusion," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 664-685, September.
    54. Sen, Anindya, 2003. "Higher prices at Canadian gas pumps: international crude oil prices or local market concentration? An empirical investigation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 269-288, May.
    55. Anindya Sen, 2005. "Does Increasing the Market Share of Smaller Firms Result in Lower Prices? Empirical Evidence from the Canadian Retail Gasoline Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 26(4), pages 371-389, June.
    56. Barron, John M. & Taylor, Beck A. & Umbeck, John R., 2004. "Number of sellers, average prices, and price dispersion," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1041-1066, November.
    57. Mariano Tappata, 2009. "Rockets and feathers: Understanding asymmetric pricing," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(4), pages 673-687, December.
    58. Bedrossian, Arakel & Moschos, Demetrios, 1988. "Industrial Structure, Concentration and the Speed of Price Adjustment," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 459-476, June.
    59. Stahl, Dale O, II, 1989. "Oligopolistic Pricing with Sequential Consumer Search," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 700-712, September.
    60. Angelopoulou, Eleni & Gibson, Heather D., 2010. "The determinants of retail petrol prices in Greece," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1537-1542, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Arezoo Ghazanfari & Armin Razmjoo, 2022. "The Effect of Market Isolation on Competitive Behavior in Retail Petrol Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-33, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rrukaj, Ritvana & Steen, Frode, 2024. "Asymmetric cost transmission and market power in retail gasoline markets," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 8/2024, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    2. Noel, Michael D. & Qiang, Hongjie, 2019. "The role of information in retail gasoline price dispersion," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 173-187.
    3. Firgo, Matthias & Pennerstorfer, Dieter & Weiss, Christoph R., 2015. "Centrality and pricing in spatially differentiated markets: The case of gasoline," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 81-90.
    4. Jens‐Peter Loy & Dieter Pennerstorfer & Daniela Rroshi & Christoph Weiss & Biliana Yontcheva, 2022. "Consumer Information and Price Transmission: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 631-683, September.
    5. repec:dgr:rugsom:14027-eef is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Joshua Sherman & Avi Weiss, 2015. "Price Response, Asymmetric Information and Competition," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(589), pages 2077-2115, December.
    7. Palencia-González, Francisco J. & Navío-Marco, Julio & Juberías-Cáceres, Gema, 2020. "Analysis of brand influence in the rockets and feathers effect using disaggregated data," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    8. Deltas, George & Polemis, Michael, 2020. "Estimating retail gasoline price dynamics: The effects of sample characteristics and research design," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    9. Ederington, Louis H. & Fernando, Chitru S. & Hoelscher, Seth A. & Lee, Thomas K. & Linn, Scott C., 2019. "A review of the evidence on the relation between crude oil prices and petroleum product prices," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 1-15.
    10. Bruzikas, Tadas & Soetevent, Adriaan, 2014. "Detailed data and changes in market structure," Research Report 14027-EEF, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    11. Mariano Tappata & Jing Yan, 2017. "Competition in Retail Petrol Markets," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 201-218, September.
    12. Tadas Bruzikas & Adriaan R. Soetevent, 2014. "Detailed Data and Changes in Market Structure: The Move to Unmanned Gasoline Service Stations," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 14-123/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    13. Remer, Marc, 2015. "An empirical investigation of the determinants of asymmetric pricing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 46-56.
    14. Xu, Jiayi & Zhang, Xiao-Bing & Liu, Yang, 2024. "Asymmetric search behavior for gasoline prices: Evidence from the Chinese gasoline market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PB), pages 699-712.
    15. Justus Haucap & Ulrich Heimeshoff & Manuel Siekmann, 2017. "Fuel Prices and Station Heterogeneity on Retail Gasoline Markets," The Energy Journal, , vol. 38(6), pages 81-104, November.
    16. Matthew S. Lewis, 2011. "Asymmetric Price Adjustment and Consumer Search: An Examination of the Retail Gasoline Market," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 409-449, June.
    17. Christos Genakos & Blair Yuan Lyu & Mario Pagliero, 2024. "Asymmetric pass-through and competition," CEP Discussion Papers dp2028, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    18. Polemis, Michael L. & Fotis, Panagiotis N., 2014. "The taxation effect on gasoline price asymmetry nexus: Evidence from both sides of the Atlantic," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 225-233.
    19. Haucap, Justus & Heimeshoff, Ulrich & Siekmann, Manuel, 2015. "Price dispersion and station heterogeneity on German retail gasoline markets," DICE Discussion Papers 171, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    20. Matthew Chesnes, 2016. "Asymmetric Pass-Through in U.S. Gasoline Prices," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    21. David P. Byrne, 2019. "Gasoline Pricing in the Country and the City," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 55(2), pages 209-235, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retail gasoline pricing; Price-setting behavior; Price stickiness; Localcompetition;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02292332. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.