Americans are spending the overwhelming majority of money saved at the petrol pump, according to research that clashes with survey evidence gauging the impact of the oil price slump.

New analysis of the spending patterns of 25m people shows that households spent about 80 percent of the windfall they received as a result of lower fuel prices — higher than suggested by some early government estimates.

The data from the 澳博官方网站app 研究所 suggests that the spending kick from lower gas prices has already been significant in a wide range of categories including dining out, entertainment and purchases of electronics and appliances — and that a rise in the price of oil could deliver a palpable blow to these areas.

“Consumers report that they are using their gains at the pump to pay down debts and save. Our data show they are spending most of them,” said the report, published on Thursday.

去年油价开始暴跌之后, some economists were perplexed by the tentative reaction of US consumers to the benefits they were seeing at filling stations. Some polling suggested that households were squirrelling away much of the windfall or using it to repay debt, confirming an impression of a US consumer that remains profoundly cautious some six years after the end of the recession.

The new research from the 澳博官方网站app 研究所 based on the debit and credit card spending of 25m individuals paints a different picture — and one that varies sharply depending on a person’s geographical area, 年龄及收入组别.

The numbers show that for every dollar less spent at the petrol pump, individuals spent roughly 80 cents on other things, with nearly 20 percent of the savings going to restaurants, 而10%花在了食品杂货上. There were also significant gains in spending at department stores and on entertainment and electronics, 研究人员发现.

Given households have not been using the petrol windfall to build up a savings cushion, a sharp rise in energy costs could have a notable impact on their spending patterns. The report said: “A substantial increase in gas prices might proportionately dampen consumer spend in these categories, if the response to gas price increases is symmetrical with the response to gas price decreases.”

也就是说, the overall impact of the oil price drop on US households should not be overestimated, 数据显示. Petrol spending represents less than 5% of consumer spending, meaning other economic forces — such as wage patterns — far outweigh the benefits or otherwise of oil price movements. Recent consumer spending figures have been buoyant, with outlays expected to rise by more than 3 percent in the second half of the year.

然而, the research shows that the impact of falling oil prices has very different effects on different categories of people. Individuals in the lowest income quintile received a significant fillip from the fall in petrol prices, 收到相当于1的储蓄.每月收入的6%, while middle income individuals saved just over 1 percent, 根据研究. The top quintile saved more on petrol in absolute terms but the benefit was just 0.5%.

The impact of the windfall also varied by region and age. The report found that people living in the south and midwest, 40岁以下人士, and lower income individuals experienced the largest boost to their purchasing power from a fall in petrol prices.

The east and west were found to be “lower impact states” because people use less petrol there. 在州, 西弗吉尼亚州的个人在汽油上花费最多, while the District of Columbia saw the lowest spending.

The report concluded: “Recent gas price declines resulted in significantly more spending than previously understood, and that the gains in discretionary spending disproportionately accrue to low income individuals, 给年轻人, 还有那些人们在汽油上花很多钱的州. This is good news for the US consumer as we anticipate sustained low gas prices through the rest of 2015.

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