Black Gold: The Economics of Oil

It seems that oil is always in the news. Whether oil prices are spiking or falling, we pay close attention. Why is oil so crucial to modern economies? Have oil price shocks produced most of the recessions of the past 60 years? We will look at the history of the industry, starting with John D. Rockefeller, continuing to the rise of OPEC in the Middle East, and coming to the present where the US has once again become an important oil producer because of fracking. Looking ahead, we will consider how the industry and the economy will respond to the energy transition that is happening in many countries.

Dennis Sheehan, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of finance at the Penn State University Smeal College of Business. He previously taught in the business schools at Purdue University, the University of Chicago and the University of Rochester. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown University and received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.