Key words: Seasonal cycles; gasoline market.

This paper investigates the response in prices to demand changes over the seasonal cycle in the Swedish retail gasoline market. In contrast to what has been found for the gasoline market in the United States, we find no support for seasonal price changes compatible with the theories for cyclical variations of intensity of competition. We also study the response in prices to the demand fluctuations induced by tax increases, but neither do they support the theory. Some possible explanations for this difference between the gasoline markets Sweden and the United States are discussed