The factoid thrown around is that roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply travels through the Strait of Hormuz. Since it closed, my local gas prices in one area of the US midwest have gone from $2.60 to now $4.10 presumably as reserves have been used up.
I could understand a 20~30% increase in price to correlate with the reduction in supply, but what are the economic factors that lead to what feels like such a disproportionate increase?
More detailed background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasticity_(economics)
Price is rarely 1% for 1%. Some things people will still use in similar quantities even if there are high price increases (e.g. life saving medication). Others people will stop using even if there are small price changes.
Yeah thats basically the answer summed up in a wikipedia article