The Wall Street Journal suggests today that part of the latest surge in China’s oil imports is attributable to a desire to boost the country’s oil stockpiles.
Category Archives: energy
Current economic conditions
Friday’s jobs report was unquestionably a disappointment. But other recent U.S. economic indicators are more encouraging.
Replacing Iran’s oil production
If an embargo is successful in preventing Iran from selling a significant amount of oil on the world market, what would replace it?
International Trade, an Enhanced Petroleum Transportation Network, and Gasoline Prices
Don’t expect a big impact on gasoline prices from opening up an oil pipeline to the coast.
I am a little late to this debate [0] [1] [2], but I wanted to highlight something that is clear from basic international trade theory. Opening up to international trade changes relative prices, and in fact raises some prices. If a pipeline were to be built which could transport oil currently produced in the Midwestern US to the Gulf Coast, then to the extent that oil in the Midwest is lower priced than on the coasts, then average US oil prices may actually rise with completion of the pipeline.
A rational reason for high oil prices
“There is no rational reason for high oil prices,” writes Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, in today’s Financial Times. Well, I can think of one– if oil prices were lower, the world would want to consume more than is currently being produced.
Disentangling the channels of the 2007-2009 recession
Harvard Professor James Stock and Princeton Professor Mark Watson presented a very interesting paper last week at the Spring 2012 Conference for the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Their paper studied similarities and differences between the 2007-2009 recession and other U.S. business cycles.
Why do gasoline prices differ across U.S. states?
Gasoline prices differ substantially across different parts of the United States. For example, the average price in Illinois is currently 70 cents/gallon higher than that in Wyoming, and California motorists pay 86 cents/gallon more than the folks in Wyoming. Why is that?
Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the rescue
The United States and Britain have apparently been discussing a joint release of strategic petroleum stockpiles.
Links for 2012-03-14
Quick links to a few items I found interesting.
Oil prices and the U.S. economy
Here’s why I believe that the current high price of oil is not enough to derail the U.S. economic recovery.