although this is subject to the perfectly elastic supply assumed in the price equation. France and Italy also show a high level of substitution, in this case away from coal. Germany, Japan and the USA, however, actually show negative substitution, indicating a shift away from gas and into oil, without a great reduction in coal. In the case of Germany this is probably due to the lack of price response in the coal industry due to government subsidy. In Japan, coal is relatively minor at present and gas is expensively imported as LNG: the system is highly constraified by their lack of resources and government intervention, again reducing the response to price.