Article ID: | iaor2013748 |
Volume: | 47 |
Issue: | 1 |
Start Page Number: | 28 |
End Page Number: | 41 |
Publication Date: | Jan 2013 |
Journal: | Transportation Research Part A |
Authors: | Skinner Ian, Wells Peter, Varma Adarsh, Newman Dan, Kay Duncan, Gibson Gena, Beevor Jamie |
Keywords: | automobile industry, Europe, public policy |
This paper analyses the issue of whether governmental regulation results in higher producer costs that are then passed on as higher prices to the consumer, with a longitudinal study of the European automotive market. Using a large data set for the period 1995–2010 the hedonic price analysis study concludes that the claims that regulation would result in higher per unit costs for new cars are not supported, at least as far as the pass‐through into retail or list prices are concerned. Consequently, regulators need a better understanding of what the ‘cost of regulation’ claims entail over the longer term – with the implication that additional costs even where they arise are more easily absorbed than has hitherto been expected.