"Well the price of gas has changed," says Dr. Walden, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. "With gas prices high in the summer, that led to a lot of gloomy forecasts.

"Now of course we have seen gas prices falling, already down 40 cents per gallon. Many experts expect those prices to fall even more just in time for Christmas," he adds. "And that’s causing those economic forecasters who try to project Christmas sales to revise those projections upward.

"The reason is very simple: money. Every penny drop in gas prices frees up $1 billion in income for consumers that they can spend. So we already had a 40-cent drop; that’s $40 billion in potential extra consumer spending," Walden concludes. "So this is why those cash registers that we expected to be perhaps rather quiet this Christmas may be singing a loud tune."