Changes in Human Mobility under the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Tokyo Fuel Market

Abstract

The study identifies the impact of the changes in human mobility due to the announcement of the state of emergency to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic on the Tokyo gasoline, diesel, and kerosene markets. Indices reflecting the movements in the visits to transit stations and workplaces were used to capture the changes in human mobility from February 2020 to February 2021. The linear and nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) models were applied to investigate the relationship between the changes in human mobility indices and fuel prices. Although only the kerosene price received an impact from the human mobility changes in the linear ARDL model, the NARDL model revealed that when human mobility was increasing, the fuel price was affected positively and the negative shocks in the mobility had an adverse influence on the fuel price. The results of the study imply the importance of providing subsidies when a state of emergency reduces fuel demands due to the decline in human mobility and negatively affects the fuel retail industry.