Vance Ginn

Retail and wholesale gasoline price adjustments in response to oil price changes

This research examines the long-run relationship between the spot oil price and retail and wholesale gasoline prices. Recent research suggests that the response of the retail gasoline price is faster and the size of the change is larger, in magnitude, following a crude oil price increase compared with periods when the crude oil price is falling; however, some recent papers examining potential asymmetries present mixed results. Our results from a common threshold model estimating the adjustment of gasoline prices and the spot oil price suggest a long-run relationship between retail and wholesale gasoline prices and the crude oil price. Further, results here suggest that both retail and wholesale gasoline prices respond symmetrically to an oil price shock in the long run, indicating little market power by gas stations and wholesalers.

Which Petroleum Prices Best Explain Retail Fuel Price Changes

This paper examines which petroleum prices best explain changes in gasoline and diesel prices during three distinct periods of fuel price volatility during the 2003 to 2010 period. The results indicate that spot retail fuel prices are best explained by their futures prices over most periods, indicating that these futures markets provide valuable information about future spot fuel prices no matter the level of fuel price volatility.

Effects of the Fed's Liquidity Programs and Quantitative Easing on Interest Rates, 2007-2010

This paper examines the effectiveness of several of the Fed’s unconventional monetary policies from 2007 to 2010 by comparing interest rate spreads with forecast estimates based on either the pure expectations hypothesis or the preferred habitat theory. We find that the effectiveness of these policies are similar to other studies in that the liquidity provided by the Fed did not have immediate or significant effects on interest rate spreads. These results are consistent with several studies that point toward counter party risk, not lack of liquidity, as the problem in financial markets at the time.