With apologies to the folks over at The Oil Drum for borrowing their idea (or maybe I should just thank them for drawing my attention to it), MSNBC.com has some interesting reader reactions to higher gas prices. Some interesting economic lessons in some of the reactions.
Most of the responses are what you would expect.
Higher gas prices decrease the demand for gas powered transportation:
I'm making my daughter learn to ride a bike without training wheels so we can make our trips to the library, park, or co-op grocery store without using the car...
or cause people to substitute to more fuel efficient cars or move closer to work:
I used to drive a Nissan Pathfinder, 11-15 mpg, but traded it on a a Toyota RAV4, 22-28 mpg. I also used to make a 30 miles roundtrip drive to work and I bought a house less than a mile from my workplace.
But, the decrease in demand (and subsequent lower price) for less fuel efficient cars might entice some people to enter a market they otherwise wouldn't:
The only way it changed my life is that it lowered the price on 4x4's. My 8-year-old sports car was due to retire and my wife's 4x4 had 40,000 miles on it since we bought it 1.5 years ago. So off to the dealership we went and home we came, with two brand new gas guzzlers. Did I mention that I drive 74 miles each way to work. That's 150 a day. Can you think of a more comfortable way to spend those hours than in a big, comfortable vehicle? Me neither.
Now, we still expect the number of SUV's to decrease overall...but it's funny how markets work sometimes.
