Do High Oil Prices Disproportionately Hurt the Poor?

This claim is repeated so often that it's almost conventional wisdom. Robert Reich's op-ed in the NYT was even titled, "Poor Americans are getting hit hardest by the rising gas prices."

But is it true? Not according to Larry Bartels. In his new book, Unequal Democracy, Bartels examines data from 1949-2005, and writes:

[A] 50% increase in the real price of oil would reduce the real incomes of families at every income level by a similar amount, about 1.5 percentage points.

Just some food for thought.