Tanktourismus - eine Szenario-Analyse

The present paper analyzes the incentives of domestic car drivers to get their fuel beyond the border line due to given price differences (“fuel tourism”). The paper distinguishes the cases of limited and complete rationality. Limited rationality means that the decision of car drivers is solely based on additional fuel costs and time effort; complete rationality, in contrast, means that all private costs are taken into account. The outcome shows that, regarding the case of limited rationality, even comparably small price differences induce a strong incentive for "fuel tourism". The key to a solution for this problem is to make car drivers more aware of the complete private costs of driving which they are already paying for today.