An Economic Analysis of World Energy Problems

The issues of energy policy can only be fully understood through the application of fundamental economic principles: this basic premise is confirmed throughout An Economic Analysis of World Energy Problems. The book presents the relevant principles of economic analysis and demonstrates their applicability to questions of policy appraisal and to specific energy policy decisions.

The author formulates a general theoretic methodology for the economic analysis of energy-related issues; he therefore avoids introducing data that are overly restricted or limited in scope and stresses policy questions that are likely to be of continuing interest. The book concentrates on the kinds of problems—and potential solutions—that will be of pressing concern for as far as can be seen into the energy future, and the general economic principles that will remain appropriate to an analysis of the problems.

This general economic approach allows the author to integrate a great variety of specific matters related to energy. Among the subjects featured in the book are the following: An analysis of the various energy industries as economic entities, including the use of capital investment for exploration and fuel extraction; A consideration, not only of the industries that supply energy, but also of the industries that supply the machinery and equipment, mechanical and electrical, that consume energy; A similarly inclusive consideration of both the countries that supply energy (especially those in OPEC) and the countries that consume it (including Western Europe and the U.S.); Discussions of spatial economics and exhaustion that are not available elsewhere in the literature on energy; A delineation of the considerable impact of transportation costs on the delivered price of energy.

Other subjects treated include supply regulation, oil and gas price controls, taxation and land law, conservation, and environmental legislation.