Back to Economists' Forum homepage
By Martin Wolf
Oil at $200 a barrel: that was the warning from Goldman Sachs, published last week. The real price is already at an all-time high (see chart). At $200 it would be twice as high as it was in any previous spike. Even so, it would be a mistake to focus in shock only on the short-term jump in prices. The bigger issues are longer term.
Here are three facts about oil: it is a finite resource; it drives the global transport system; and if emerging economies consumed oil as Europeans do, world consumption would jump by 150 per cent. What is happening today is an early warning of this stark reality. It is tempting to blame the prices on speculators and big bad oil companies. The reality is different.
The remainder of this column can be read here. Debate from our panel of economists appears below.
Read the debate - comments from, amongst others: Desmond Lachman and Martin Wolf.
Tags: Oil
Leading economists discuss topics raised by 
With most of the world’s big economies now officially out of recession, the Financial Times examines the legacy of the worst global economic crisis since the 1930s. See our in depth page: 
News, data and opinions on market-moving economics. Read posts from Chris Giles, the FT's economics editor, Krishna Guha, US economics editor and Ralph Atkins, Frankfurt bureau chief.