The choice of organizational form in gasoline retailing and the cost of laws that limit that choice

This paper uses a new data source to analyze the choice of organizational f orm of retail gasoline stations. In recent years, gasoline stations have te nded to be less likely to be owned and operated by a lessee-dealer and more likely to be owned and operated by the refiner. We examine the determinant s of organizational form and find them to be based on efficiency, not preda tory concerns. We estimate the costs of recent laws that prohibit company o wnership of gasoline stations and find that the annual cost of national div orcement legislation could easily exceed $1 billion.