Re: oil and the new economy

["Nathan Newman" <nathan.newman@xxxxxxxx>]

Actually, the real emerging crisis is in natural gas.  Usage of natural gas
has been skyrocketing in recent years, largely because of the wholesale
switchover of many power plants to natural gas.  Forgetting OPEC, those
prices seem guaranteed to rise.

And as the electricity gets shut off in select areas, the dependence of our
electricity-based New Economy on fossil fuels is pretty clear.  It may not
be as large a part of the GDP, but given the new instability of production
under deregulation, the erratic nature of responses to demand may be a
recipe for shocks disproportion to its economic role.

-- Nathan Newman

----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2000 11:26 AM
>Subject: [PEN-L:2047] oil and the new economy


What has happened to the claim that the New Economy is no longer very
sensitive to oil prices?

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx