Germany's Market Transparency Unit for Fuels: Fostering Collusion or Competition?
To increase competition in the retail market for gasoline, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office established the so-called Market Transparency Unit for Fuels (MTU). Drawing on a panel data set covering 6,834 stations in Germany and employing both fixed effect methods and a difference-in-difference approach, this study investigates the impact of the MTU on the price margins of gas stations. We find that the MTU fostered a more intense competition, with a reduction in price margins of 1-2 cents per liter.