27 January 2005
Good Government Won't Make Oil Cheaper
Somehow, Peter Huber and Mark Mills, in their OpEd article in the 27 January 2005 Wall Street Journal, "Oil, Oil, Everywhere . . " have identified serving the welfare of the world's oil consumers with good government in countries that sit on the most accessible oil deposits. Even if those countries had more participatory political systems, it is not clear that they would act in a way that does not maximize the value of their own natural resource wealth. Perhaps, a government is not necessarily good when it pursues the best interests of its constituents as they define them, but only when its policies are judged benevolent by experts such as Messrs. Huber and Mills.
Somehow, Peter Huber and Mark Mills, in their OpEd article in the 27 January 2005 Wall Street Journal, "Oil, Oil, Everywhere . . " have identified serving the welfare of the world's oil consumers with good government in countries that sit on the most accessible oil deposits. Even if those countries had more participatory political systems, it is not clear that they would act in a way that does not maximize the value of their own natural resource wealth. Perhaps, a government is not necessarily good when it pursues the best interests of its constituents as they define them, but only when its policies are judged benevolent by experts such as Messrs. Huber and Mills.
