Economics of Gasoline Price Regulation

Gasoline price regulation is experienced at a country level, with states having power to levy additional taxes, as in India or at a provincial level, like Atlantic provinces of Canada regulating gasoline through their own independent bodies. Many issues which arise are answered in the book. First, difference in prices may cause cross border shopping with serious economic consequences for bordering areas. Second, gasoline retailers may use promotions like coupons or rebates to attract customers causing effective price paid by consumer to be lower than the regulated price. Third, dealing with a situation of gasoline outage and finding its cause. Consistency of gasoline regulation and the Competition Act of Canada. Fourth, dealing with a situation of increasing gap between retail gasoline price as retail crude oil price. These and other issues are detailed in the book. The literature on the subject of gasoline price regulation is limited and the present book fills a major gap.