Friday, December 5, 2008

Today's Economics Lesson: Why Oil Prices Are Dropping

Today comes news that oil prices are approaching $40/Bl and the US lost a half million jobs last month. This kind of negative news pushes the demand for energy down as people without work cut back on spending since they have no money coming in, which means supply is greater than demand. The price individuals are willing to pay for a good is below the market equilibrium at the previous price, so the result is underconsumption. If people are homeless long enough, the income change will cause the whole demand curve to shift down, which lowers the price for the good supplied.

In other words, people without the money for gas to drive will not drive. The only good news from this economic downturn is that many a petrodictator is going to be dropping a brick if prices get much lower. Their lavish spending while the population starves will catch up quickly.

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