--%>

Chance for arbitrage

Assume the price of unleaded regular octane gasoline were 20 cents per gallon higher in New Jersey than in Oklahoma.  Do you think there would be chance for arbitrage (that means. that firms could buy gas in Oklahoma and then sell it at profit in New Jersey)?  Why or why not?

Oklahoma and New Jersey stand for separate geographic markets for gasoline due to high transportation costs.  If transportation costs were zero, a price raise in New Jersey would prompt arbitrageurs to buy gasoline in Oklahoma and sell it in New Jersey.  In this case it is unlikely that the 20 cents per gallon difference in costs would be high sufficient to create a profitable opportunity for arbitrage, given both transactions costs & transportation costs.

   Related Questions in Microeconomics

  • Q : Influence of war in prices Assume that

    Assume that the War in Iraq start to engulf other Middle-Eastern countries in hostilities. The least probable outcome of gasoline prices therefore increasing to, state, $10 per gallon in the United States, would be that: (i) Hummer sales would fall as a percentage of

  • Q : Find price elasticity of demand for

    Suppose yearly steel sales double to 80 million tons while the price falls $40 per ton, to $180 per ton. Therefore price elasticity of demand for steel is approximately: (w) 3.333. (x) 10.000. (y) 2.500. (z) 6.667.

    Q : Median Relative Income Measurement A

    A family which has income greater than half the median incomes of other American families, although less than twice which median income, is categorized by the Department of the Census as: (1) impoverished. (2) low relative income. (3) working class. (

  • Q : Lower rates of return by financial

    Financial assets will create lower rates of return to prospective investors while: (w) they become more liquid. (x) their prices go up. (y) interest rates increase. (z) default risks decrease. Hey

  • Q : Goals of the Firm-Maximizing their

    When top executives of the corporation pursue policies which maximize their personal incomes and advantages, the most likely outcome is that: (1) The Corporation will attempt to maximize the net revenue. (2) Stockholders in the corporation will experience the highest

  • Q : Problem regarding analyzing persistent

    In analyzing persistent shortages within the U.S. market for adoptable children: (w) children are most reasonably considered investment goods. (x) children might reasonably be functioned as consumer goods. (y) lower prices charged adopting families would result within

  • Q : Founder of modern general equilibrium

    The founder of modern general equilibrium analysis was: (w) Leon Walras. (x) Adam Smith. (y) Alfred Marshall. (z) John Maynard Keynes. Please choose the right answer from above...I want your suggestion for the same

  • Q : Capital resources Select which of the

    Select which of the following lists includes only capital resources (and therefore no labor or land resources)? 1) an ice arena; a professional hockey player; hockey uniforms. 2) the owner of a new startup firm; a chemistry lab; a researcher. 3) a hydroelectric dam; w

  • Q : Labor History-Yellow Dog Contracts The

    The Yellow dog contracts are now outlawed, however in the early 20th century such agreements among employers: (1) Not to purchase intermediate goods generated by unionized labor hindered labor market re-forms. (2) And workers specifying that the workers would not conn

  • Q : Economic efficiency for pure competition

    Pure competition yields economic efficiency through: (w) punishing profit maximizing behavior. (x) forcing firms to adopt the least costly technologies available. (y) generating high profits as incentives. (z) rewarding entrepreneurs