Demand for gasoline is more price-inelastic than commonly thought

0389215 - NHÚ 2013 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Havránek, T. - Iršová, Z. - Janda, Karel
Demand for gasoline is more price-inelastic than commonly thought.
Energy Economics. Roč. 34, č. 1 (2012), s. 201-207. ISSN 0140-9883. E-ISSN 1873-6181
Institutional support: RVO:67985998
Keywords : gasoline demand * price elasticity * publication selection bias
Subject RIV: AH - Economics
Impact factor: 2.538, year: 2012

One of the most frequently examined statistical relationships in energy economics has been the price elasticity of gasoline demand. We conduct a quantitative survey of the estimates of elasticity reported for various countries around the world. Our meta-analysis indicates that the literature suffers from publication selection bias: insignificant or positive estimates of the price elasticity are rarely reported, although implausibly large negative estimates are reported regularly. In consequence, the average published estimates of both short and long-run elasticities are exaggerated twofold. Using mixed-effects multilevel meta-regression, we show that after correction for publication bias the average long-run elasticity reaches −0.31 and the average short-run elasticity only −0.09.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0218115