WHICH costs more, the car or the gasoline?

In the United States, the quarter that just ended was probably the first period since the early 1980s that a bigger proportion of the consumer’s pocketbook was spent on gasoline, oil and other energy products than was spent on motor vehicles.

But even as the price of gasoline has soared to more than $4 a gallon, Americans are spending a much smaller share of their budgets on fuel than they did at the time of the last spike in oil prices, in 1980.

The accompanying chart shows that spending on motor vehicles  both buying them and fixing them  tends to take a smaller share of spending during recessions, as consumers cut back on big ticket items. Based on the dismal figures for car and truck sales in June that came out this week, that appears to be happening. And the 4.2 percent share of consumer spending that went to cars in the first quarter seems likely to have fallen in the quarter that just ended.

But the share devoted to the purchase of gasoline and other fuels certainly increased, even though there are indications Americans have cut back on driving. Gasoline prices in the quarter averaged more than 20 percent higher than in the first three months of 2008. The share of spending on fuels seems likely to have risen well above the 4.1 percent mark recorded then.