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- Title
Energy and ideology'
- Authors
Mitchell, Edward J.
- Abstract
This article focuses on public opinion polls, which show Americans believe the energy crisis to be one of rising prices of energy. They see the solution in actions like increasing supplies of oil from the outer continental shelf, or expanding nuclear energy. That is, they see the solution to scarcity as removing artificial government constraints on supply. This public perception is essentially sound. To the extent energy scarcity is real, the price of energy must rise. But to the extent it is artificial, policies must be adopted that tear down man-made constraints on supply. Opinion polls are interesting mainly because they indicate people's wants, which they are well-informed about, as opposed to their knowledge of energy facts, which they are not well-informed about. In the early Nineteenth Century, Americans fueled their lamps with whale oil and sperm oil. As this source was depleted, whale and sperm oil prices soared. Sperm oil rose from 43 cents per gallon in 1823 to as high as $2.55 per gallon; whale oil rose from a low of 23 cents a gallon in 1832 to $1.45 a gallon.
- Subjects
UNITED States; PUBLIC opinion polls; ENERGY shortages; ENERGY conservation; ENERGY consumption; PRICES; NUCLEAR energy; WHALE oil
- Publication
Journal of Portfolio Management, 1978, Vol 4, Issue 3, p5
- ISSN
0095-4918
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3905/jpm.1978.408639