Título en español.

Abstract

This paper examines the existence of an asymmetric relationship between Puerto Rico retail gasoline prices and the West Texas Intermediate crude oil price, using monthly data for the period of January 1993 to September 2005. Two types of prices asymmetry were analyzed; amount asymmetric, which deals with the magnitude of the oil prices changes that passes through to the consumer; and, pattern asymmetric, that implies that the change in oil prices passes through to the consumer at a different rate depending on their direction. The results show that the length of time in which an oil price increase is reflected in the retail gasoline market is the same as that of an oil price decrease. Furthermore, oil price decreases are eventually passed along to consumers as fully as are oil price increases.