Dynamic pricing and asymmetries in retail gasoline markets: What can they tell us about price stickiness?

•We test theories of price stickiness in retail gasoline prices.•We utilize a data set of prices for individual retail stations.•Stations price asymmetrically “in the large” but not “in the small”.•Cost decreases with lower cost volatility tend to result in lower retail prices.•These results are consistent with fair pricing and rational producer inattention.

Theoretical explanations for price stickiness used in businesses cycle models are diverse (e.g., information processing delays, rational inattention and fair pricing), with each theory resulting in a different implication for inflation dynamics. Using an autoregressive conditional binomial model and a data set consisting of daily observations of price and cost for 15 Philadelphia retail gasoline stations, we test which of these theories is most consistent with the observed pattern of price adjustment. Our findings of time dependence, asymmetry and the role of cost volatility are consistent with a combination of fairness considerations and rational inattention by producers.