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A Review of West Coast Gasoline Pricing and the Impact of Regulations

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  • Christopher Taylor
  • Jeffrey Fischer

Abstract

There have been numerous proposals for legislating restrictions on vertical supply relationships on the West Coast and elsewhere. However, there has not been a systematic examination of gasoline prices on the West Cost, relative to the rest of the country, to understand the size of possible pricing anomalies. We examine the differences in the price of gasoline on the West Coast and the Gulf Coast both at the rack (wholesale) and retail. We also examine structural factors that have kept average West Coast prices higher than elsewhere, such as the higher costs to produce CARB gasoline and higher opportunity costs to produce conventional gasoline, higher shipping costs, Unocal's patents on CARB gasoline blending, higher taxes, Oregon's ban on self-service gasoline, and higher land costs. While a number of these factors are difficult to quantify, they would appear to explain most or possibly all of the measured difference in average prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Taylor & Jeffrey Fischer, 2003. "A Review of West Coast Gasoline Pricing and the Impact of Regulations," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 225-243.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ijecbs:v:10:y:2003:i:2:p:225-243
    DOI: 10.1080/13571510305061
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jennifer L. Brown, 2009. "The Market Effects of Going Green: Evidence from California’s Wholesale Reformulated Gasoline Market," The Energy Journal, , vol. 30(3), pages 115-128, July.
    2. Tilov, Ivan & Weber, Sylvain, 2023. "Heterogeneity in price elasticity of vehicle kilometers traveled: Evidence from micro-level panel data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    3. Daniel Hosken & Louis Silvia & Christopher Taylor, 2011. "Does Concentration Matter? Measurement of Petroleum Merger Price Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 45-50, May.
    4. Walls, W.D., 2010. "Petroleum refining industry in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2110-2115, May.
    5. W.David Walls & Frank W. Rusco, 2007. "Price Effects of Boutique Motor Fuels: Federal Environmental Standards, Regional Fuel Choices, and Local Gasoline Prices," The Energy Journal, , vol. 28(3), pages 145-164, July.
    6. Kendix, Michael & Walls, W.D., 2010. "Oil industry consolidation and refined product prices: Evidence from US wholesale gasoline terminals," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3498-3507, July.
    7. Abrantes-Metz, Rosa M. & Froeb, Luke M. & Geweke, John & Taylor, Christopher T., 2006. "A variance screen for collusion," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 467-486, May.
    8. Balaguer, Jacint & Ripollés, Jordi, 2020. "Do classes of gas stations contribute differently to fuel prices? Evidence to foster effective competition in Spain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    9. Kendix, Michael & Walls, W.D., 2010. "Estimating the impact of refinery outages on petroleum product prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1291-1298, November.

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