OIL PRICES, ENERGY PRICES
AP Photo
November 18, 2008
"A Chapter For Detroit To Open"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
"The simplest solution is to allow GM and the others to file for bankruptcy. If the companies file under Chapter 11, they would be able to continue producing cars, and the workforce would remain employed while the firms reorganized. The firms would also be able to get short-term credit under bankruptcy protection."
October 8, 2008
"The High Cost of Incompetent Governance"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
In times like this -- global economic crisis -- the dominance of exclusively oil-fueled economies in the Arab World expose a regional lack of competent governance.
AP Photo
September 18, 2008
The Power of Oil Consumers
Op-Ed
By Henry A. Kissinger and Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
The oil-consuming nations are in a position to shape both the global economic and political balance, provided they coordinate and, to some extent, pool their efforts. America should play a major role in this effort. Rather than wait passively for the next blow to fall, the major consuming nations -- the Group of Seven, together with India, China and Brazil -- should establish a coordinating group to shift the long-term trends of supply and demand in their favor and to end the blackmail of the strong by the weak.
August 5, 2008
"Stephen M. Walt on the U.S., Iran, and the New Balance of Power in the Persian Gulf"
Q&A
By Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs; Faculty Chair, International Security Program and Kayhan Barzegar, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
Walt: “…..by maintaining a (new) balance you don’t get conflict breaking out and you tilt in favour whichever side seems to be falling behind. At the same time, you do try to discourage conflict whenever possible. You certainly don’t try to control the region yourselves and if the balance breaks down as it did in 1991 and you have to intervene you go in, you get out as quickly as possible. But you don’t try to organize these societies. You don’t try to tell them how to live. You don’t try to tell them how their governments should be organized and you don’t try to transform them at the point of a rifle barrel. This is not disengagement, but it is also not trying to control the region or dictate its political evolution.”
“…we are not going to have a stable long-term situation in the Persian Gulf until the United States and other countries in the region—including Iran—do come to some understanding about the various issues that concern them. Achieving that goal will require genuine diplomacy…The United States will also have to recognize that Iran’s size, potential power, large population, and its geo-strategic location inevitably make it a major player in the security environment in the Persian Gulf, and ignoring that fact is unrealistic…”
July 29, 2008
New Report from Harvard Kennedy School Researchers Calls for Changes to Biofuels Incentives
News
By Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program, William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy, and Human Development; Co-director, Sustainability Science Program; Faculty Chair, ENRP; and Charan Devereaux
Despite pressure from biofuel critics, governments should avoid simplistic and precipitous changes in course such as rollback or moratoria on existing biofuels mandates or incentives, according to a new report from three Harvard Kennedy School researchers. Instead, the researchers urge governments to initiate an orderly, innovation-enhancing transition towards incentives targeted on multi-dimensional goals for biofuels development.
AP Photo
Summer 2008
Hedging Against Uncertainty: US Strategy in an Interdependent World
Journal Article, National Strategy Forum Review
By William Hogan, Raymond Plank Professor of Global Energy Policy
Energy is important, but energy independence is a dangerous myth. The U.S. National Petroleum Council recently observed: "There can be no U.S. energy security without global energy security." Oil flows in a world market and events anywhere affect the price of oil everywhere. There is no escaping these oil price shocks. Even if the United States were to substantially reduce its own oil consumption, there would be no immunity from the effects of high world oil prices that would determine domestic energy prices and ripple through the world economy. Geology and politics make the world deeply interdependent and policy should be crafted to promote and secure energy interdependence. Real energy security comes from robust energy systems with diversity and flexibility, not through isolation and energy autarky.
July 16, 2008
"Running on Empty and Spreading the Blame"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program
Who is to blame for $4.00 gasoline?
June 29, 2008
"What we can do in this dangerous moment"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor (on leave)
"It is quite possible that we are now at the most dangerous moment since the American financial crisis began last August," says Lawrence Summers. Summers, a member of the Belfer Center's Board of Directors, says the staggering increases in oil prices and other commodities has brought consumer confidence to new lows and raised serious inflation concerns. He urges Congress to pass the housing bill immediately, to promptly pass other fiscal measures in response to the nation's economic difficulties, and to address non-monetary factors causing inflation concerns. In addition, Summers says, regulators should do what is necessary "to assure that in the event of an institution becoming insolvent they can manage the resolution in a way that protects the system while also protecting taxpayers."
AP Photo
June 2008
"Analysis of Policies to Reduce Oil Consumption and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions from the U.S. Transportation Sector"
Discussion Paper
By Kelly Sims Gallagher, Senior Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group and Gustavo Collantes, Former Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy Research Group/Enviroment and Natural Resources Program, 2007-2008
This study examines different policy scenarios for reducing GHG emissions and oil consumption in the U.S. transportation sector using a variant of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS).
Martha Stewart
Summer 2008
"Oil Shockwave" Sends Tremors through the Forum
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
Even a relatively minor disruption in the global supply of oil could have profound effects for the U.S. economy and national security, according to a distinguished group of former government officials, economists, and energy and security experts who took part in an innovative role-playing exercise in the John F. Kennedy Forum Monday night (April 29, 2008).
