August 2005

Tax Collectors Feel Pain at the Pump

Michael Giberson For months we have been treated to media reports telling us gasoline consumption was undeterred by higher prices. Apparently, not any more. Prices have become high enough to reduce consumption, and because a reduction in gasoline consumption leads to a reduction in gasoline tax collections. State government officials are taking notice, according to …

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KP Northwoods Style

Lynne Kiesling I am outta here, headed on a week’s vacation to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. No computer, no cell phone reception, so no LK KP. Mike will soldier on here while I’m gone. But please keep talking! I love seeing the conversation that has started. TTFN!

An Even Better Statistic on Gasoline Household Spending

Lynne Kiesling OK, Manhattan in hand … here’s an analysis that improves on the first one. I’ve taken the ratio of [gasoline price x gasoline quantity] to median household income. The gasoline quantity data are from Table 5.13a of the DOE’s Annual Energy Review 2004, in thousands of barrels. Table 5.13a reports “estimated petroleum consumption, …

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Gas Price Relative to Median Income Has Fallen

Lynne Kiesling OK, here’s the data to show that relative to median household income, gasoline prices have fallen: Data used to create figure: Median household income data for 1980-2000 from Table H-11 of Census historical statistics, in current dollars Median household income data for 2001-2003 from Table H-8 of Census statistics from the Current Population …

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Summary of Reasons Why Oil and Gasoline Prices Are Currently So High

Lynne Kiesling In KP’s three years of life there’s been a lot of coverage of oil and gasoline markets, and some dominant themes have persisted: The unintended consequences of price caps are usually pernicious. Environmental regulation, in this case in the form of the EPA federal fuel oxygenate requirement, causes balkanization of regional gasoline markets, …

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