Gasoline demand revisited: an international meta-analysis of elasticities

Meta-analysis is used to determine if there are factors that systematically affect price and income elasticity estimates in studies of gasoline demand. Four econometric models are estimated, using long-run and short-run price and income elasticity estimates from previous studies as the dependent variables. Explanatory variables include functional form, lag structure, time span, national setting, estimation technique, and other features of the model structure. Elasticity estimates are found to be sensitive to the inclusion or exclusion of some measure of vehicle ownership. Static models appear to overestimate short-run elasticities, underestimate long-run price elasticities, but pick up the full long-run income responsiveness. There is variation in the elasticity of demand across countries, especially in the short-run, and gasoline demand appears to be getting more price-elastic and less income-elastic over time. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.