Why oil prices should be decontrolled

Journal Article · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979 · Regulation; (United States)

OSTI ID:5743521

Arrow, K J ^[1]; Kalt, J P

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1. Stanford Univ., CA

The case for decontrol of oil prices centers on two basic issues: equity and efficiency. Examination of these issues and comparisons of the effects of decontrol versus continued control support the position that the efficiency to be gained from decontrol outweighs the social justice issue of transferring wealth from consumers to producers. Decontrol is shown to have economic efficiency on both the demand and the supply sides, with the inflexible and inefficient burden of regulation lifted from the taxpayers. Decontrol introduces the question of how income should be equitably distributed, but suggests that fairness should also be analyzed in the context of stock-ownership distribution and its relationship to income-generating investments and employment.

• OSTI ID: 5743521
• Journal Information: Regulation; (United States), Journal Name: Regulation; (United States) Vol. 3:5; ISSN REGUD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020700 -- Petroleum-- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
293000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation
294002* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Petroleum
DEREGULATION
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INDUSTRY
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
PRICES
PRICING REGULATIONS
PROFITS
REGULATIONS
SOCIAL IMPACT