A High Price - Why Oil Prices Keep Dropping - David Autor

A High Price - Why Oil Prices Keep Dropping - David AutorA new book by University of Chicago economist David Autor, A High Price: Why Oil Prices Keep Dropping, is the latest in a series of books to address what he sees as the fundamental problems with America's relationship with oil. His book provides concrete policy recommendations on how to fix the problem.It was on the way to his first White House job as National Security Adviser under President George W. Bush that Autor began to seriously ponder the price of oil. He believes that today's unprecedented increase in global demand for oil is an excellent time to review the current, increasingly complex problem of America's dependence on foreign oil and how it affects our economy. He argues that we've been too dependent for too long and we're not facing the end of it any time soon.Autor's vision is that the reason why the price of oil has shot up so much in recent years is because of increases in demand for American crude oil which is helping our economy and becoming a fuel that our cars use to create electricity. In fact, he contends that the reason why there is such a high demand for American crude oil is because of technology that has dramatically increased the production of oil from shale rock.As many will remember, the US shale oil industry gained major attention after they produced their first barrels of oil from the 'shale formation' on August 1st of this year. This makes Autor's book a must read for anyone who want to understand what is really happening in the world of energy and why things are changing so quickly.There are some issues that have been raised in regards to the book, the biggest being that it does not address the potential of biogas as a future energy source. Biogas is produced by microbes living in soil and decaying organic matter such as food waste and animal manure.Although it has not been discussed much in the media or by political leaders, it's one of the greatest energy sources that w e'll ever have to utilize because of its extremely low cost, high efficiency and is free. There is still debate among many on whether it can be grown sustainably in rural areas, but as more people become aware of the benefits of using it we will see more homes and businesses use it as a way to save money and use less energy.With advanced technology comes also advanced machinery that can produce everything from fertilizer to sophisticated equipment. Understanding what is happening to the oil market can be used to guide future policy and has been used as a tool by government leaders in order to shape the future of their nation's economy.