Gasoline prices hit new (nominal) highs. But gasoline use per unit of GDP (and in absolute terms) has declined since 2008.
figure 1: Gasoline supply to GDP ratio, in gallons, in Ch.2012$ (blue, left log scale), and CPI Gasoline to core CPI ratio, 1982-84=1 (brown, right log scale). NBER defines the decay date, peak to trough, shades of gray. Sources: DOE EIA, BEA, BLS via FRED, and author’s calculations.
Since 1979, the gasoline-to-GDP ratio has fallen by about half. This downward trend persisted when relative gasoline prices were high and low.
On unnormalized and nominally:
figure 2: Gasoline (blue, left logarithmic scale) and CPI-gasoline, 1982-84=1 (brown, right logarithmic scale) supplied in thousands of barrels per day. NBER defines the decay date, peak to trough, shades of gray. Sources: DOE EIA, BLS via FRED, and author’s calculations.
