Abstract: This paper characterizes fueling stations' pricing strategies to study price variation within retail gasoline markets. We use a unique dataset with stations' locations and daily gasoline prices in the major cities of the continental U.S. to classify cycler and non-cycler stations. We exploit station-level variability in pricing behavior within retail gasoline markets to show that cyclers charge about 4 cents lower gasoline prices than non-cyclers, on average. Additionally, we confirm an almost biweekly duration of the station-level cycling behavior that precludes the standard explanation of this price dynamics using the Edgeworth cycle model. Finally, we provide evidence of consumer search to explain the intra-market pricing strategy heterogeneity.
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Abstract: This paper introduces a new econometric method to identify factors influencing the disparities within the distribution of a positive random variable, focusing on US wages between 1986 and 2015. I relate the conditional Lorenz curve to the conditional quantile function to additively decompose the conditional Gini index. Moreover, this paper presents a technique to disentangle temporal changes in the distribution. The analysis shows that despite reduced impacts of race and gender on wages, persistent disparities require ongoing intervention, while higher education, especially college degrees, significantly reduces wage inequality.
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Abstract: I employ a unique dataset on fueling station locations and their gasoline prices to estimate how tax discontinuities affect business location decisions and tax incidence. The analysis shows that the number of gasoline retailers on the low-tax side of a border is 10 to 15 percent higher than on the high-tax side. Consumers bear 85 percent of the fuel tax on the high-tax side, as compared to 100 percent on the low-tax side, within 15 miles of the border. The results show the effect of tax discontinuities on the locations of retailers, their competitors, and their consequences for local competition.
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Abstract: We use a unique administrative dataset on housing transactions in Tehran to provide evidence on the incidence and distortionary effects of taxes on rental properties. We exploit a particular feature of the tax code in the Tehran rental market, where the tax-exemption threshold depends on the property’s size. Substantial bunching occurs below the tax cutoff, suggesting strong behavioral responses to the tax kink. We also find higher after-tax rents above the kink. Based on these variations, we develop a structural framework with property taxes and filing costs to estimate the price elasticities of housing size supply and demand. We estimate a mid-run (10-year) price elasticity of housing size supply of 1.36 and price elasticity of housing size demand of -0.17. We find high, but incomplete pass-through of the rental tax, implying that renters bear most filing costs.
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