My friend and co-blogger (at Market Correction) Andy Morriss has a new paper here that compellingly explains why the gasoline prices Americans now pay at the pump are unnecessarily high. Here’s the abstract:
Rising gasoline prices have brought
energy issues back to the forefront of public policy debates. Gasoline
markets today are the result of almost a hundred years of conflicting
regulatory policies, which have left them dangerously fragmented. In
this article, I analyze that regulatory history, highlighting the
unintended consequences of regulation that have pushed the United
States into a series of loosely connected regional markets rather than
a broad, deep national market. This fragmentation leaves the American
economy is vulnerable to natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and
foreign dictators in ways that it need not be. It also produces higher
prices for consumers and reduced innovation by refiners.
Share
Podcast RSS Feed
Full EconTalk Text
