Regulatory Restrictions on Vertical Integration and Control: The Competitive Impact of Gasoline Divorcement Policies |
| |
Authors: | Vita Michael G |
| |
Institution: | (1) Bureau of Economics, United States Federal Trade Commission, Washington, D.C., 20580 |
| |
Abstract: | Gasoline divorcement regulations restrict the integration of gasoline refiners and retailers. Theoretically, vertical integration can harm competition, making it possible that divorcement policies could increase welfare; alternatively, these policies may reduce welfare by sacrificing efficiencies. This paper attempts to differentiate between these possibilities by estimating a reduced form equation for the real retail price of unleaded regular gasoline. I find that divorcement regulations raise the price of gasoline by about 2.6¢ per gallon, reducing consumers surplus by over $100 million annually. This finding suggests that current proposals to further separate gasoline retailing from refining will be harmful to gasoline consumers. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|