We use a data set consisting of a three year panel of prices from a sample of gasoline stations located in suburban Washington DC and a corresponding census of the region's stations to develop three new empirical findings about retail gasoline pricing. First, while average retail margins vary...

<title>Abstract</title> Sunoco's 2004 acquisition of El Paso's, New Jersey refinery and Valero's 2005 acquisition of Premcor's Delaware refinery significantly consolidated refinery control in the US Northeast. The Federal Trade Commission investigated both transactions but challenged neither. We examine the...

Gasoline prices increased dramatically in the U.S. Midwest in the summer of 2000, generating allegations of collusion among gasoline marketers. We examine the causes of the price increase, and find no evidence to support the collusion story. Instead, a combination of industry characteristics and...

In a paper in the March 2004 AER, Justine Hastings concludes that the acquisition of an independent gasoline retailer, Thrifty, by a vertically integrated firm, ARCO, is associated with sizable price increases at competing stations. To better understand the mechanism to which she attributes this...

This study measures the effects of the Marathon&sol;Ashland Petroleum (MAP) joint venture on rack and retail reformulated (RFG) gasoline prices in the four cities where both firms sold RFG before the joint venture. MAP was an early transaction in the recent era of petroleum mergers and resulted in...