Fuel Prices, Sales Taxes and Passenger Car Market Shares in New Zealand, 1963-1978.

This paper estimates a set of market share equations for new passenger cars in New Zealand over the period 1963 to 1978. These equations are then used to determine the effects on market shares of the fuel price increases and tax rate changes that occurred in the 1970s. The results indicate that the fuel price increases had a major impact on market shares, but that the tax changes probably did not. We first estimate a set of equations that explain the market shares of new passenger cars over the period 1963 to 1978. These equations and the results of their estimation are discussed in Section II. The estimated effects of the fuel price increases and tax rate changes are compared and assessed in Section III. The final section presents some concluding remarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]