James Hamilton

Biography

James is the Editor of Econbrowser – a popular economics blog that Analyses current economic conditions and policy.

Latest articles from James

• Peak Oil is Dead! How Accurate have Past Predictions Been?

  Published 05 April 2013 | viewed 3,531 times

  "Peak oil is dead," Rob Wile declared last week. Colin Sullivan says it has "gone the way of the Flat Earth Society", writing:Those behind the…

• Why Have US Carbon Emissions Declined so Much?

  Published 27 March 2013 | viewed 2,080 times

  Emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel consumption in the United States have fallen remarkably since 2008, with recent levels the lowest since 1995. Here…

• The EIA Says Now is the Time to Drop Fossil Fuel Subsidies

  Published 05 March 2013 | viewed 1,506 times

  With domestic oil production soaring, and petroleum and coal sector profits rising at a rapid clip, now seems the right time to cut back on…

• Crude Oil Pipelines Planned for the Future

  Published 18 February 2013 | viewed 2,535 times

  The EIA last week released a nice summary of planned additional U.S. pipeline capacity.The reversal of the Seaway Pipeline began last May to carry 150,000…

• Analyzing Changes in WTI, Brent, and Gasoline Prices

  Published 17 February 2013 | viewed 2,276 times

  Here I comment on some recent developments affecting the prices of WTI, Brent, and gasoline.West Texas Intermediate is a particular grade of crude oil whose…

• If Oil Production is Growing Why are Pump Prices not Falling?

  Published 11 February 2013 | viewed 2,897 times

  Those who have been told that oil production is booming may be wondering why the prices of oil and gasoline are climbing again.Price of Brent…

• Where to Invest in 2013

  Published 05 February 2013 | viewed 1,703 times

  With the stock market setting new 5-year highs, I was interested to take another look at some of the long-term fundamentals underlying equity values.On the…

• Is the U.S. Energy Boom being Oversold?

  Published 19 December 2012 | viewed 1,905 times

  I attended the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco two weeks ago at which I heard a very interesting presentation by David Hughes of…

• Why Obama May Mint a Trillion Dollar Platinum Coin

  Published 10 December 2012 | viewed 2,336 times

  Here's one of the wilder suggestions floating around for what the President could do if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling.To explain the idea,…

• Why US Oil Consumption Might Drastically Decline in the Coming Years

  Published 06 December 2012 | viewed 3,665 times

  A lot of attention has been given to the optimistic assessments of future U.S. and Iraqi oil production in the IEA's World Energy Outlook 2012.…

• The Oil Boom Will Only Last a Decade - Then What?

  Published 29 November 2012 | viewed 3,734 times

  Oil is fundamentally a depletable resource – once a barrel is extracted from the ground and burned, it is gone. Nevertheless, world oil production has…

• A Brief Review of the IEA's 2012 World Energy Outlook

  Published 14 November 2012 | viewed 1,803 times

  On Monday the IEA released its World Energy Outlook 2012. This includes an optimistic assessment of the situation in the United States:The United States is…

• The Economic Benefits of Reducing Oil Imports

  Published 22 October 2012 | viewed 1,823 times

  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…

• How are the Sanctions Against Iran Progressing?

  Published 15 October 2012 | viewed 1,421 times

  The boycott of Iran has been more successful than I had anticipated, with Iranian oil production and exports down significantly from a year ago.And even…

• Friday's Gas Price Spike in California

  Published 08 October 2012 | viewed 1,688 times

  Gasoline prices in California are usually 30-40 cents a gallon higher than the rest of the country. About 20 cents of that is due to…

• Looking for the Cause Behind the Wild Fluctuations in Oil Prices

  Published 25 September 2012 | viewed 3,708 times

  Can the wild swings in the price of oil over the last few weeks have anything to do with supply and demand?NYMEX November crude oil.…

• The Diminishing Effects of Gas Price Spikes on the Economy

  Published 20 September 2012 | viewed 3,230 times

  As U.S. retail gasoline prices once again near $4.00 a gallon, does this pose a threat to the economy and President Obama's prospects for re-election?…

• What has been Driving Global Oil Prices Recently?

  Published 16 August 2012 | viewed 6,622 times

  The price of Brent crude oil fell $35/barrel between April and June. But increases this summer have taken about $25 of that back.Price of Brent…

• Why the Oil Futures Market did not Contribute to High Oil Prices

  Published 26 July 2012 | viewed 2,956 times

  A recent study by Luciana Juvenal and Ivan Petrella suggests that the financialization of oil futures markets contributed significantly to the surge in oil prices…

• Looking at Leonardi Maugeri's Views on Peak Oil

  Published 19 July 2012 | viewed 2,142 times

  Carpe Diem, Reuters, FTalphaville, and WhaleOil are among those calling attention to a new paper by Leonardo Maugeri, senior manager for the Italian oil company…