Some perspective on oil

Vaclav Smil at AEI shedding needed light on the oil price drama:

Falling oil prices have been called shocking, unprecedented, and (most incredibly) a highly regrettable development that will end the rise of American stock market and create unrest and uncertainty around the world. However, what we are experiencing is the eighth oil price decline of more than 30 percent during the past 30 years.

For more reading, here’s my brief analysis at Enhancing Capital of the not-so-great implications of oil’s price collapse. Read mine in light of Smil’s, though—while I do note potential downsides of low oil prices, this doesn’t mean the episode will precipitate an end to “the rise of the American stock market” or usher in some new, oil-less economic era.

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