Most of the world's population lives in countries that ban the self-service sale of gasoline. Causal effects of this regulation can hardly be assessed in these countries due to a lack of policy changes, but a recent quasi-experiment in the state of Oregon allows us to analyze the impact of the ban. From 1992 to 2017, the state of Oregon was one of two U.S. states that banned self-service at gasoline stations. Oregon adjusted regulations at the start of 2018 to allow self-service at gasoline stations in counties with populations below 40,000 individuals. I examine the repeal of this self-service ban and its effects on gasoline prices. I apply a difference-in-differences design using high frequency data of gasoline prices and find that repealing the self-service ban reduced gasoline prices by 4.4 cents per gallon in affected Oregon counties. This effect represents approximately $90 in expected annual savings for a household with three licensed drivers.

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自助服务禁令和汽油价格：允许消费者自己加油的影响

世界上大多数人口生活在禁止自助销售汽油的国家。由于缺乏政策变化，这一规定的因果影响很难在这些国家进行评估，但最近在俄勒冈州进行的一项准实验使我们能够分析该禁令的影响。1992年至2017年，俄勒冈州是美国两个禁止加油站自助服务的州之一。俄勒冈州在 2018 年初调整了规定，允许人口低于 40,000 的县在加油站提供自助服务。我研究了这项自助服务禁令的废除及其对汽油价格的影响。我使用汽油价格高频数据进行双重差分设计，发现废除自助服务禁令使受影响的俄勒冈州各县的汽油价格每加仑降低了 4.4 美分。对于拥有三名有执照的司机的家庭来说，这种效应意味着预计每年可节省约 90 美元。