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People do respond to the price of fuel -- if people are driving a lot at that price, they'd be driving a lot more if the price was lower. But a lot of people's
by NumberWangMan 4y ago
People do respond to the price of fuel -- if people are driving a lot at that price, they'd be driving a lot more if the price was lower. But a lot of people's driving habits comes from the way that cities and towns are laid out, too. High fuel prices can discourage driving, but if most people have no choice but to drive in order to access work and other places they need to go, then it won't have as much of an effect, and people will compensate by cutting spending in other ways.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago> People do respond to the price of fuel -- if people are driving a lot at that price, they'd be driving a lot more if the price was lower. Massive claim, particular if you're trying to map over both North America and Europe. Far from clear that this is true in the European case. Happy to see citations that prove otherwise.
- NumberWangMan 4y agoYou're right, it is a big claim, and I should probably walk it back. It's possible that there's such a high demand for driving that the main reason people don't do more of it is, say, the congestion, rather than the cost of fuel. This is definitely true in parts of the USA. It does depend on the price elasticity of the demand for driving. I found this article [1] which finds that if fuel prices go up by 10%, people drive 1% less in the short term, and over the long term, about 3% less. This of course varies greatly from place to place, among different income levels, etc. [1] https://www.vtpi.org/elasticities.pdf https://www.vtpi.org/elasticities.pdf