TY  - BOOK
AU  - Van Beers,Cees
AU  - Strand,Jon
AU  - Van Beers,Cees
TI  - Political Determinants of Fossil Fuel Pricing
PY  - 2013///
CY  - Washington, D.C.
PB  - The World Bank
KW  - Democratic versus autocratic governments
KW  - Diesel pricing
KW  - Energy
KW  - Energy subsidies
KW  - Environment
KW  - Gasoline pricing
N2  - This paper provides an empirical analysis of economic and political determinants of gasoline and diesel prices for about 200 countries over the period 1991-2010. A range of both political and economic variables are found to systematically influence fuel prices, and in ways that differ systematically with countries' per-capita income levels. For democracies, the analysis finds that fuel prices correlate positively with both duration of democracy and tenure of democratic leaders. In non-democratic societies there is more often no such relationship or it is the opposite of that for democracies. Regime switches-transitions from non-democratic to democratic government, or vice versa-reduce fuel prices. Fuel prices are also lower for more corrupt, or more centralized, governments. Higher levels of gross domestic product per capita lead to higher fuel prices, while export income from selling fossil fuels reduces these prices dramatically. Higher motor fuel consumption also appears to reduce fuel prices, most for gasoline. Absolute "pass-through" of crude oil price changes to fuel prices is found to be high on average
UR  - http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/book/10.1596/1813-9450-6470
ER  -