Another good thing from high gas prices (As gas prices rise, ...):
From coast to coast, American teenagers appear to be driving less this summer. Police officers who keep watch on weekend cruising zones say fewer youths are spending their time driving around in circles, with more of them hanging out in parking lots, malls or movie theaters.
The price spike in gasoline, to an average of $4.07 a gallon for regular unleaded, is so recent that government statistics do not yet capture the teenage-driving trend. But the figures show that overall [quantity] demand for gasoline is dropping. In dozens of interviews, teenagers and their parents said the price of gasoline was forcing hard choices on them.
My suggestion to parents of teenagers who don't understand costs money is to say something like this:
Instead of cruising, or hanging out, why don't you join a book club? Or learn to play a musical instrument? Or join a summer rec league? Son/daughter, don't you think that would be more fulfilling?
Note: The bracketed term in the second paragraph was added in an attempt to avoid reader confusion. See, if demand falls that would lead to a price fall. Demand is not falling. Things that cause demand to fall are lower incomes (for normal goods), changes in tastes and preferences, higher prices for complements and lower prices for substitutes. Demand is a schedule of price and quantity demand combinations which, when combined with supply, determines price. When prices rise quantity demand falls.
