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Fact #399: November 21, 2005
The 'Fair' Price of Gasoline

The Associated Press conducted a poll in late September 2005 that asked approximately one thousand people in each of nine different countries: What would you say is a fair price for a gallon of gasoline? (or "liter of gasoline," where appropriate.) The lowest average "fair" price was from U.S. respondents ($1.99/gallon), while the highest average "fair" price was from respondents in the United Kingdom. The graph below compares the "fair" price from the survey to the actual retail gasoline price in those countries.

Supporting Information

Gasoline Prices — Fair Price vs. Actual

	Mean price suggested by respondents as a "fair price" (dollars per gallon)	Actual price of gasoline in September 2005 (dollars per gallon)
U.S.	1.99	3.02
Canada	2.72	3.64*
South Korea	4.11	5.50*
Australia	2.94	3.93*
France	4.08	5.78
Germany	4.87	6.12
Italy	4.05	5.91
Spain	3.32	4.44*
U.K.	5.16	6.28
* Estimated. Sources: Fair price - Associated Press Poll, results published Oct. 17, 2005. Gasoline price - Energy Information Administration and estimates using 4th quarter 2004 data from the International Energy Agency.

 

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