The Elasticity of Demand for Gasoline: Evidence from the Czech Republic

Charles University Faculty of Social Sciences Institute of Economic Studies MASTER'S THESIS The Elasticity of Demand for Gasoline: Evidence from the Czech Republic Author: Bc. Radoslav Lacko Supervisor: Mgr. Petr Polák MSc. Academic Year: 2018/2019 Abstract Studying the price responsiveness of the fuel demand is popular topic among researchers. The price elasticity is used for predicting future tax revenues, or fuel consumption under various situations. This thesis focuses on elasticity estimation for the Czech Republic using high frequency evidence. We use the process of data mining to get the Czech evidence. Observed elasticity differs by the data aggregation level. Estimated long-run elasticity range between −0.38 and −0.68 for gasoline users and between −0.43 and −0.54 for diesel users. Much lower elasticity was estimated in the short-run that confirms economic theory. JEL Classification C51, C55, L71, Q43 Keywords elasticity, fuel, Czech Republic, microdata Author's e-mail rl.lacko@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail polakpet@gmail.co