Consumer Search in Retail Gasoline Markets
11 Pages Posted: 22 Apr 2014 Last revised: 16 Mar 2015
Date Written: March 11, 2015
Abstract
This paper develops direct tests for search behavior in retail gasoline markets. We exploit a unique market-level dataset that allows us to directly measure search intensity with daily web traffic data from a gasoline price reporting website and perfectly measure daily changes in price levels and dispersion. Our simple yet powerful tests provide strong evidence of both cross-sectional and intertemporal price search.
Keywords: search, price dispersion, retail gasoline
JEL Classification: D8, L8
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Byrne, David P. and de Roos, Nicolas, Consumer Search in Retail Gasoline Markets (March 11, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2427556 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2427556
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