Gasoline Price Fluctuations

Table 4.3 shows the main results for the demand on eating at restaurants. The elasticity with respect to gasoline price is significant and negative, indicating that a 100 percent increase in gasoline price results in an 8 percent decrease in eating away from home which is more than the elasticity of grocery shopping with respect to gasoline price. This result suggests that gasoline price fluctuations affect demand on eating at restaurants more than grocery shopping. It is possible that when the price of gasoline as a necessity good goes up, consumers have to spend a higher share of income on gasoline expenditures and then have less residual income to spend on other daily expenditures such as eating out. The elasticity with respect to income