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Edgeworth Price Cycles: Evidence from the Toronto Retail Gasoline Market

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  • Noel, Michael

Abstract

In this article, I exploit a new station-level, twelve-hourly price dataset to examine the strong retail price cycles in the Toronto gasoline market. The cycles are visually similar to the theoretical Edgeworth Cycles of Maskin & Tirole [1988]: strongly asymmetric, tall, rapid, and highly synchronous across stations. I test a series of predictions made by the theory about how firm behaviors would differentially evolve over the path of a cycle. The evidence is consistent with the existence of Edgeworth Cycles and inconsistent with competing hypotheses. One finding is that smaller firms are more likely than larger firms to initiate rounds of price undercutting but the reverse is true for rounds of price increases. While the cycles are an interesting phenomenon for study in their own right, the evidence has important implications for understanding market power in both cycling and non-cycling gasoline markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Noel, Michael, 2004. "Edgeworth Price Cycles: Evidence from the Toronto Retail Gasoline Market," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt64j579g9, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
  • Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:qt64j579g9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
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    Cited by:

    1. Weibull, Jörgen, 2006. "Price competition and convex costs," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 622, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 23 Feb 2006.
    2. Dean V. Williamson & Céline Jullien & Lynne Kiesling & Carine Staropoli, 2006. "Investment Incentives and Market Power: An Experimental Analysis," EAG Discussions Papers 200605, Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.
    3. L. Bettendorf & S. A. van der Geest & G. H. Kuper, 2009. "Do daily retail gasoline prices adjust asymmetrically?," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(4), pages 385-397.

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