The Economic Benefits of Reducing Oil Imports

The Economic Benefits of Reducing Oil Imports

by flybiggles555@yahoo.com (James Hamilton)

On Wednesday I noted that encouraging more U.S. oil production was unlikely to result in a significant drop in U.S. retail gasoline prices. Nevertheless, I believe that there would be some important economic benefits from lowering the U.S. oil import bill, as I discuss here.In 2011, the U.S. imported $462 billion of petroleum and petroleum products, or more than a billion dollars every day (see BEA Table 4.2.5). The fact that we import goods from other countries is not a problem per se. Standard economic theory teaches that if the U.S. imports…Read more...http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/The-Economic-Benefits-of-Reducing-Oil-Imports.html