“If you’re a lower-income person commuting from Riverside into Irvine, it’s going to hit you really hard,” said Eric Swanson, a professor of economics at UC Irvine. While gasoline isn’t a big part of the average American’s budget — about 3%, Swanson said, compared to about 40% for housing costs, which also are rising — hikes in gas prices are regressive, Swanson said, meaning that, in relative terms, they hit lower-income people harder than higher earners. And increased gas prices create a ripple effect, Swanson said, eventually leading to higher prices for most all transported goods.

For the full story, please visit https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-01/rising-gas-prices-russia-ukraine-conflict-los-angeles.