CARPE DIEM
Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
Sunday, July 27, 2008
About Me
- Name: Mark J. Perry
- Location: Washington, D.C., United States
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
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8 Comments:
Interesting chart; however, the tax and benefits systems and geography of European countries is so dissimilar to the US that such comparisons to US gas prices are meaningless. An apples-to-apples comparison, if one exists, would be much more meaningful. Just my thoughts. JCarr
"An apples-to-apples comparison, if one exists, would be much more meaningful"...
Interesting point JCarr and now I'm wondering what would be that country that would be a closer parallel to the US?
Canada was my first thought but I've not been to Canada in well over a decade and I see according to Gas Buddy Canadians pay three to four times what we pay for gasoline...
Again it seems possible that your allusion to the
,"tax and benefits systems" must be in play there also...
What would the chart look like if you charted the percent change in gasoline/diesel fuel for the last four or five years in the same countries? I think that's the real story that's upsetting most people. Let's face it, most people don't care about the gasoline price in the next county—they care even less about the price in other countries.
Here's an example that hits home for me. The retail price of diesel fuel was $1.62 per gallon in June 2004 when I bought my truck to pull my fifth wheel. The retail diesel fuel price in June 2008 was $4.89 per gallon (it has slipped a mite since then to $4.69). How do other countries compare to that?
I realize that crude oil prices dictate the price of gasoline and diesel fuel (along with taxation and profit after each step in the process to end delivery), but I think you are going to have a hard time selling a foreign-country comparison to many people. Don’t get me wrong—I am not calling people stupid; however, the price increase in gasoline was just too much and too fast for average-income consumers to mentally or financially handle. People who have to decide whether to buy food to eat or fuel to get to work this week just want gas to stop going up.
@ juandos
Price per gallon in Canada is currently just over $5 USD per gallon.
Hey danny thanks for that bit of info...
After I posted it I had to wonder if I had misread or misunderstood what was posted on Gas Buddy...
Then what are the Gas Buddy figures alluding to?
Are they the price in 'Canadian' pennies per liter?
After looking at the data supplied, I answered my own question. The other countries roughly almost doubled in the 2004-2008 period, and in the U.S., the prices slightly more than doubled in the same time frame. So, that's pretty close, and I stand corrected.
I still don't feel that the average person will care about that. On the other hand, I have adjusted, and I am spending about the same amount on fuel as I did in the past by reducing my driving and riding my motorcycle to work everyday. We also canceled our planned trip to Yellowstone, and we stayed in Michigan campgrounds this year. We still had a blast!
Europeans pay in euro, not in doillars. It makes no freaken sense to express price in italy in dollars.
what is the point of this chart?
don't all of the European nations have a heavy tax on gasoline.
so then, gasoline costs more there. DUH!
more importantly, and not discussed here, people don't buy huge SUVs in europe.
so isn't the point we should also impose high gasoline tax here in the u.s and get people off the SUV addiction?
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