Oil prices and demand for scooters - cross elasticity

High gasoline prices is having a classic cross-price elasticity of demand effect. Sales of bicycles, scooters and motorcycles are up. Sales of sport-utility vehicles are down as consumers respond to the changing real cost of getting about town using a motorcar.

Market demand for scooters is said to be soaring in many parts of the USA - here is a link to an article in the Dallas News. Pure economics and a certain nostalgia seem to be two driving forces behind the shift in the pattern of demand. And as sales of scooters rises, so too does the demand for complementary services such as motorcycle-safety courses and scooter riding equipment such as helmets, gloves and motorcycle jackets,

Martin Wolf on Global Shocks [10 Feb 2012]
Russia’s monopoly power over gas supplies [5 Feb 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Inflation [26 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Per Capita Incomes [26 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Look Upwards to Find the next Downturn [15 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Factors Driving Business Investment [10 Jan 2012]
Hopes and Fears 2012 [10 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: A Jobs Boost for the US Economy [8 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Natural Disasters and their Economic Impact [7 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Low Cost Airlines Beat the Recession [1 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Exchange Rate Economics - Where next for the US Dollar? [31 Dec 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Biomass Subsidies and Timber Prices [30 Dec 2011]
2011 in Review - The US Economy [27 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: The UK Housing Market in 2011 [26 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Sub Normal Profits - BP Leaves the Solar Industry [21 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopoly and Duopoly in Bus Markets [20 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Tacit Collusion in the Supermarket [27 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Brand Loyalty in Mobile Phones [27 Nov 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: 50 Years since the end of the Max Wage in Football [23 Nov 2011]
Pasty Prices - Something to Chew Over [19 Nov 2011]
AS Macro: The State of British Business [13 Nov 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: America’s hour-glass economy [9 Nov 2011]
US Budget Visualised [7 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Unilever hit by rising costs [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Time of Use Pricing for Energy [2 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Economies of Scale and the Kinect [31 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Examples of Price Discrimination in Action [31 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Is the Sun Dipping on Solar Subsidies? [27 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: University fees and elasticity of demand [24 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Economists attack food price speculation [24 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Ofcom gives stamp of approval for flexible pricing in mail [21 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Importance of Investment [19 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: World Food Day [16 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Positive and Negative Multiplier Effects [14 Oct 2011]
Can the “invisible hand” solve Africa’s poverty? [13 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Can Exports Drive a Recovery? [13 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: UK suffers a weak recovery [12 Oct 2011]
The Return of Protectionism? [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Producing Coffee - Kenya in Pictures [4 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Homework Assignment on Consumer Spending [3 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Homework Assignment on Market Prices [2 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: The Supply and Demand Rap! [28 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Equilibrium Market Prices [27 Sep 2011]
Putting the “discrimination” into price discrimination! [26 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Market Supply [26 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Market Demand [25 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: IMF Flags up Risks of Double Dip [20 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Growth and Inequality [14 Sep 2011]
Study Note - What is Macroeconomics? [13 Sep 2011]
NHS spending good, private provision bad? [5 Sep 2011]
Mixing with the Nobel Economists [4 Sep 2011]
Starter Activity: Health Economics [1 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: The Price of Football [2 Aug 2011]
Monetary Policy Roundtable [25 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Cotton Prices and the Retail Price of Clothing [13 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Economics of Volatile Corn Prices [12 Jul 2011]
Zondle Game: 10 Question Quiz about OPEC [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Dangers of High Inflation [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Reducing Unemployment after a Recession [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopsony - Dairy Losses Drive Farmers from the Fields [10 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: FirstBuy, Affordability and Effective Demand in Property [10 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: High price of petrol drains demand [9 Jul 2011]
AS Micro: Fears over a century of hunger [22 Jun 2011]
AQA ECON4 Context [20 Jun 2011]
A2 Macro: Consumer Spending [30 May 2011]
Lady Gaga and Baby Food! [29 May 2011]
Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [25 May 2011]
AQA Macro: Remember to revise inflation [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Demand Pull Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Deflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Cost Push Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Economic Recovery [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Recession [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Spare Capacity [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: The Output Gap [23 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Competition Policy [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly and Collusion [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Entry Barriers in Markets [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: The Importance of Profit [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: High and Low Marginal Cost Products [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Consequences of Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Examples of Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Perfect Competition [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Competition and Efficiency [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation and Economic Policies [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation Efficiency and Welfare [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Moving Away from Profit Max [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Minimum Efficient Scale [18 May 2011]
AS economics: Using the cost-benefit principle [18 May 2011]
The economics of price gouging after a natural disaster. [16 May 2011]
UK Economy Update: What Mervyn Said [11 May 2011]
AS Micro: What´s really behind the oil price rise? [10 May 2011]
Review of “Adapt” by Tim Harford [9 May 2011]
Interest Rates Held at 0.5% once again [5 May 2011]
AS Micro: Commodity Prices [5 May 2011]
AS Macro: Extended House Price Deflation? [5 May 2011]
AS Micro: Rising Global Food Prices [2 May 2011]

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