• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.581-612
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• 2013

Opinet is the system that has announced the daily domestic petroleum price data from April 2008. This study's goal is to examine if the domestic petroleum(gasoline and diesel) prices adjust their prices asymmetrically comparing before-Opinet with after-Opinet. The results of this study found the evidence of asymmetric domestic petroleum prices before the Opinet and the evidence of symmetric domestic petroleum prices after the Opinet. Also the domestic petroleum prices after the Opinet adjust upward/downward nearly twice as fast when its actual value is below/above its equilibrium. According to this study, the domestic petroleum market works more efficiently than before.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.523-549
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• 2015

This paper investigates an oil refiner's asymmetric behavior in the adjustments of gasoline and diesel prices to changes in his own price and his rivals' prices as well as input costs. An asymmetric error correction model which allows a firm's pricing behavior to the deviation of other firms' prices from their long-run equilibrium level is employed for estimation using weekly data for the period April 2009 to January 2015. Evidence is found that there is a significant degree of asymmetry in the adjustment of wholesale prices to changes in crude oil price. A similar result in regard to the exchange rate is also found by the data. The estimation results for firm's response to changes in other firms' prices indicates that implicit collusion could be more easily exploited in the wholesale petroleum market as results of firms' interaction with each other and anticipation of rivals' pricing behavior. A few refiners show competitive price adjustment in response to the upward deviation of the others' prices from their equilibrium level.