Data for: Asymmetric pricing of diesel at its source

Abstract of associated article: Competitive diesel pricing can yield tangible benefits to truck drivers, fleet operators and farmers. The ability, and willingness, of wholesale distributors to asymmetrically pass on changes in diesel costs to consumers can adversely distort the market. Existing studies for Australia have focused on petrol (gasoil) prices, while there has been no testing for asymmetry in diesel prices. We test for rocket and feather effects in Australian wholesale diesel prices at their source. We find that in all seven seaport cities, when the price of oil goes up, diesel prices shoot up like a rocket and when the price of oil decreases, diesel prices fall like a feather. The asymmetric responses are more noticeable when oil prices are rising than falling. Results support the view that suppliers adopt or coordinate almost the same asymmetric pricing behaviour before distributing diesel among retailers.

关联论文摘要：具备竞争力的柴油定价可为卡车司机、车队运营商与农户带来切实益处。批发分销商有能力且愿意将柴油成本变动不对称地转嫁至消费者，这可能会对市场造成不利扭曲。现有针对澳大利亚的相关研究多聚焦于汽油（gasoil）价格，尚未有针对柴油价格不对称性的检验。我们从源头检验了澳大利亚批发柴油价格的火箭-羽毛效应（rocket and feather effects）。研究发现，在全部七个海港城市中，当油价上涨时，柴油价格会如火箭般迅速攀升；而当油价下跌时，柴油价格则如羽毛般缓慢回落。油价上涨时的非对称响应较油价下跌时更为显著。研究结果印证了这一观点：供应商在向零售商分销柴油前，普遍采用或协同实施了近乎一致的非对称定价行为（asymmetric pricing behaviour）。