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Do Prices for Petroleum Products Converge in a Unified Europe with Non-Harmonized Tax Rates?

Abstract:
The paper presents panel unit root tests for price convergence of different petroleum products over the last decade. We distinguish consumer and producer price convergence and test for the absolute versus relative version of the law of one price. Comparing the speed of convergence as well as its development over time indicates that price arbitrage in the common EU markets is not sufficiently strong to level the price differentials, mainly caused by different excise taxation. We show that taxation alone leads to market segmentation and that discretionary national tax policy by EU member states is not (yet) threatened by the observable level of cross-border shopping.

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Energy Specializations: Petroleum – Markets and Prices for Crude Oil and Products; Petroleum – Policy and Regulation; Energy Modeling – Energy Data, Modeling, and Policy Analysis

JEL Codes: Q41: Energy: Demand and Supply; Prices, Q40: Energy: General, L71: Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Hydrocarbon Fuels, D47: Market Design, L11: Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms, D40: Market Structure, Pricing, and Design: General

Keywords: Price convergence, law of one price, petroleum products, taxation, European integration, panel unit roots

DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol29-No1-4

Published in Volume 29, Number 1 of the bi-monthly journal of the IAEE's Energy Economics Education Foundation.

 

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