The Invisible Hand -- Still Packs a Wallop

[aupanner]

Years ago I took the Micro Economics class at UCSC -- the Astro 2 of the econ canon. It was therein that I became acquainted with the notion of elastic and inelastic demand curves. These curves plot consumption vs price. An elastic demand is something that one will forgo as the price rises, while consumption of an inelastic demand resists

Comments

[cindy_dutra]

The "science" of Economics is a valuable tool: it provides its disciples with an indecipherable cant which they can use to freely communicate among themselves without letting the outside world know that they're skimming off the top with a backhoe.

[thrustoleum]

We're paying $5.17 a gallon for diesel on the Big Island. Ouch. Of course, we rarely drive more than about 20 miles at a go, and rarely over 45mph.

This trip I think we've put more miles on our bicycles than on the Grease Weasel. (70 miles per week on the bike is not an unreasonable estimate: that's 1,680 miles this year.)

I agree with Kerry that government stimulus funds would be well spent on R&D for high fuel-efficiency transport, rather than the nonsense we're already subsidizing (e.g. corn ethanol, SUVs as "trucks", etc.)

[yvil]

I spend about $12 a day on gas when I drive alone to work. We just started a vanpool from Santa, which since I can only ride one day a week for the short-term is still about the same cost (I don't qualify for commute subsidies). BUT there's also wifi which is pretty sweet.

I went through a similar twitchiness where I almost broke down to go out and buy a motorcycle (sold my old one already) for gas savings and carpool advantage. Then I stopped and realized it would be a ridiculously long time before I'd recup the outlay, especially since it means more insurance too. Sure was appealing at the time though.

My cousin owns a bike shop in Montclair and he's sure hoping bike sales go up with gas prices.