Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Update: $2.99 Gas Deal

Back in May, Steve Levitt took a beating from commenters and bloggers for a Freakonomics post on Chrysler's $2.99 gas deal, which is nicely summarized here:
If you buy a Chrysler vehicle this month, you’re eligible for a gasoline card that caps your fuel costs at $2.99 a gallon for three years. Freakonomics author Steven Levitt calls this a ”brilliant idea,” because he thinks consumers “systematically exaggerate the importance of gas prices to their budgets.” He also thinks the program might not cost Chrysler very much, because there’s a good chance that gasoline prices might fall.
Many people were upset by 1) his suggestion that people exaggerate the importance of gas prices; and 2) that he suggested prices might fall and Chrysler would not have to pay anything out.

Well, you could still debate #1, but #2 looks like it is going to go to Levitt, so there should be a world wide web of people preparing an apology to him.

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