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As to your point 1a, I very much enjoyed the economists reactions to skyrocketing gasoline prices back in 07-08. At that time gas went from something less than $2.70/gal to about $4.15 in the space of one year. Every day on Marketplace some other bonehead would be head scratching and ad hoc-ing about why people weren't driving less. I believe that above $4, there actually began to be modest decrease in driving distance per consumer, but then the economy tanked and gas fell to nothing so we were never able to see really long term data. Whatever the case, there is certainly little or no elasticity in the price of gas.