TY  - BOOK
AU  - Lewis,Matthew S.
TI  - Temporary Wholesale Gasoline Price Spikes Have Long‐Lasting Retail Effects: the Aftermath of Hurricane Rita
AV  - HB73 JOU 
PY  - 2009///
CY  - Chicago
PB  - University of Chicago Press
KW  - Cities
KW  - Gasoline
KW  - Gasoline prices
KW  - Geography
KW  - Hurricanes
KW  - Market prices
KW  - Price changes
KW  - Retail prices
KW  - Wholesale prices
N2  - I study U.S. gasoline prices following Hurricane Rita to show that short‐lived geographical differences in the severity of wholesale gasoline price spikes are associated with long‐lasting geographical differences in retail prices. In most U.S. cities, wholesale prices spiked significantly for roughly 2 weeks following the hurricane. However, in cities where this spike was particularly large, retail margins remained higher than in other cities for nearly 2 months. High retail margins dissipated more quickly after the hurricane in cities where competition between stations tends to generate cyclical retail price fluctuations independent of wholesale cost movements. I discuss why prices may have fallen faster in cities exhibiting retail price cycles and present additional results identifying differences in market characteristics between cities with and without price cycles. I find that cycling cities tend to have higher population density and have independent (nonrefinery brand) stations that are more highly concentrated into large retail chains
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1086/592056
ER  -