POLITICAL-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF ENERGY—A SYNTHESIS

Major areas of interest concerning the future international oil situation are: forecasts of future U.S. oil supplies; the probable world demand for oil in the future; the probable behavior of world oil prices under the impact of competitive market forces and potential OPEC cartel policies; and oil import dependence. Twelve papers on these issues are summarized briefly. In general, the authors agree that resource conservation and national goals would be better served if markets had been allowed to allocate energy resources and if past governmental intervention had been avoided. New and better governmental regulatory policies are recommended.