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Gas Or Easter Baskets? Economics May Come Into Play This Season

DETROIT (WWJ) - You're paying about $1.10 more a gallon at the gas pump than you were a year ago.  Will you spend less on Easter as a result? 

University of Detroit-Mercy Marketing Professor Mike Bernacchi thinks you will since the gas price hike amounts to 91% of what's usually spent on the holiday.

Bernacchi says its expected that Americans will spend 14.6 billion dollars on Easter.

 "Instead of buying Easter goodies , what it probably would leave everybody that's going to be an Easter buyer would leave 'em with one dozen lilies to purchase or one dozen of  modestly priced Easter cards. Is that exactly a go wild sign for Easter?" asks Bernacchi.

Bernacchi says it's an issue of how high do gas prices have to go before we stop spending.

It doesn't mean that we're not gonna spend this Easter, says Bernacchi, but we may be talking about limiting one or the other.

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