>I thought somebody here might have a quick source
>this: some sort of inflation corrected measure of gas
>prices in the US going back at least to the 60's, back
>to the 20's would be even better....
My favorite measure - number of minutes it would take a worker paid the average hourly wage to pay for the average gallon of gas: <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/WorkMinutes4Gas.gif>. There are a lot of problems with using price indexes to make long-term comparisons (radically changing market basket, magnification of minor errors as they compound over time, etc.) - but work is work.
In CPI terms, the high in gas prices was around $3.00 in early 1981; current prices are on a par with 1974, as the first embargo was hitting.
Doug
