Dynamic fuel price pass-through: Evidence from a new global retail fuel price database

We estimate the dynamic effects of crude oil price shocks on retail fuel prices, the pass-through, using the local projection approach of Jordà (2005). Using a novel monthly dataset of retail fuel prices in 162 countries over the period from 2000:1 to 2014:12, we find that: (i) retail gasoline prices respond positively to crude oil price shocks, but the responses vary across regions and income groups; (ii) there is also some variation across country groups in the persistence of the effects of crude oil price shocks on retail gasoline prices; and (iii) declines in crude oil prices lead to smaller effects on retail gasoline prices than increases in crude oil prices, pointing to an asymmetry in the fuel price pass-through.