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Gasoline Prices and Road Fatalities: International Evidence

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  • Paul J. Burke
  • Shuhei Nishitateno

Abstract

This study utilizes data for 144 countries from 1991-2010 to present the first international estimates of the gasoline price elasticity of road fatalities. We instrument each country's gasoline price with that country's oil reserves and the yearly international crude oil price to address potential endogeneity concerns. Our findings suggest that the average reduction in road fatalities resulting from a 10% increase in the gasoline pump price is in the order of 3-6%. Around 35,000 road deaths per year could be avoided by the removal of global fuel subsidies.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul J. Burke & Shuhei Nishitateno, 2014. "Gasoline Prices and Road Fatalities: International Evidence," Departmental Working Papers 2014-18, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pas:papers:2014-18
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    File URL: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/acde/publications/publish/papers/wp2014/wp_econ_2014_18.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Increasing fuel taxes could save thousands of lives worldwide
      by Paul Burke, Fellow, Crawford School at Australian National University in The Conversation on 2014-11-13 07:17:25
    2. Cheap petrol fuels road deaths
      by ? in ANU News on 2014-11-12 12:51:00
    3. Increasing fuel taxes could save thousands of lives worldwide
      by ? in ANU News on 2014-11-13 07:30:00

    Citations

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

    1. Yi-Xuan Gao & Hua Liao & Paul J. Burke & Yi-Ming Wei, 2015. "Road transport energy consumption in the G7 and BRICS: 1973-2010," International Journal of Global Energy Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 38(4/5/6), pages 342-356.
    2. Paul J. Burke and Ashani Abayasekara, 2018. "The Price Elasticity of Electricity Demand in the United States: A Three-Dimensional Analysis," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    3. Burke, Paul J. & Yang, Hewen, 2016. "The price and income elasticities of natural gas demand: International evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 466-474.
    4. Rohan Best & Paul J. Burke, 2019. "Fuel prices and road accident outcomes in New Zealand," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 109-124, May.
    5. Zhang, Tong & Burke, Paul J., 2020. "The effect of fuel prices on traffic flows: Evidence from New South Wales," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 502-522.
    6. Edwards, Ryan B., 2016. "Mining away the Preston curve," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 22-36.
    7. Silvia Bruzzone & Stefano Castriota & Mirco Tonin, 2021. "Points Or Prison? The Effects Of Different Sanctions On Driving Behavior," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(1), pages 126-140, January.
    8. Paul J. Burke, 2014. "Green Pricing in the Asia Pacific: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(3), pages 561-575, September.
    9. Paul J. Burke & Ataklti Teame, 2018. "Fuel Prices and Road Deaths in Australia," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 37(2), pages 146-161, June.
    10. Pang, Jindong & An, Lan & Shen, Shulin, 2023. "Gasoline prices, traffic congestion, and carbon emissions," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Darren Grant, 2021. "Understanding the Decline in Drinking and Driving During “The Other Great Moderation”," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 876-907, December.
    12. Biondi, Beatrice & Mazzocchi, Mario, 2024. "An empirical analysis of the effect of economic activity and COVID-19 restrictions on road traffic accidents in Italy," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    13. Hensher, David A. & Wei, Edward & Liu, Wen, 2021. "Battery electric vehicles in cities: Measurement of some impacts on traffic and government revenue recovery," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    14. Edwards, Ryan B. & Naylor, Rosamond L. & Higgins, Matthew M. & Falcon, Walter P., 2020. "Causes of Indonesia’s forest fires," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    road deaths; road safety; gasoline price; subsidy; taxation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy

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