Journal Article
What's driving gasoline prices?
Virmani, Raghav; Brown, Stephen P. A. (2007)
If current market conditions prevail, gasoline prices are set to rise over the next few months and then fall over the next three years, according to this issue of the Economic Letter.
Economic Letter , Volume 2

Journal Article
Running on empty? how economic freedom affects oil supplies
Brown, Stephen P. A.; Alm, Richard (2006)
Economic Letter , Volume 1 , Pages 1-8

Journal Article
Crude awakening: behind the surge in oil prices
Alm, Richard; Virmani, Raghav; Brown, Stephen P. A. (2008)
The first few months of 2008 saw crude oil prices breach one barrier after another. They topped $100 a barrel for the first time on Feb. 19, then rose past $103.76 about two weeks later, surpassing the previous inflation-adjusted peak, established in 1980. In April and early May, oil prices pushed past $110 and then $120 a barrel and beyond. ; These milestones reflect a new era in oil markets. After the tumult of the early 1980s, prices remained relatively tame for two decades - in both real and nominal terms. This long stretch of stability ended in 2004, when oil topped $40 a barrel for the ...
Economic Letter , Volume 3

Journal Article
What drives diesel fuel prices?
Brown, Stephen P. A.; Thies, Jackson (2009)
Historically, gasoline has commanded a premium over diesel, but that changed in mid-to-late 2007, when diesel rose above gasoline. In 2007 and 2008, however, gasoline traded higher than diesel only 21.1 percent of the time. This deviation from historic norms raises an interesting question--what drives diesel prices? As with virtually all petroleum-derived products, the story begins with oil prices. Seasonal patterns also play a significant role. Demand for a range of oil-based products changes with the weather, and prices fluctuate as refiners adjust their output mix. Government regulations ...
Economic Letter , Volume 4

Journal Article
Energy prices and state economic performance
Yücel, Mine K.; Brown, Stephen P. A. (1995-04)
Changes in energy prices have had sizable but differing effects on economic activity across the United States. The composition of each state's economy largely determines how its employment responds to changes in energy prices. In this article, Stephen Brown and Mine Yucel use simulations based on input-output analysis to assess the long-term consequences of changing oil prices on employment in each state in 1982, 1992, and 2000. Brown and Yucel find that because state economies are becoming more similar in their composition, the variation across states in the response to changing oil prices ...
Economic and Financial Policy Review , Issue Q II , Pages 13-23

Journal Article
Intellectual property rights and product effectiveness
Gruben, William C.; Brown, Stephen P. A. (1997-10)
Recent economic literature concludes that an invention-importing country, where domestic invention is scarce or nonexistent, may reduce its welfare and, in some cases, world welfare, by protecting intellectual property developed elsewhere. The analysis presented in this article uses economic theory to show that such a conclusion may not be fully warranted for a wide range of products, such as antibiotics, fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides, whose effectiveness diminishes with cumulative use. Both developed and developing countries may find that protecting intellectual property rights ...
Economic and Financial Policy Review , Issue Q IV , Pages 15-20

Journal Article
Exchange rates and world oil prices
Phillips, Keith R.; Brown, Stephen P. A. (1986-03)
Economic and Financial Policy Review , Issue Mar , Pages 1-10

Journal Article
New directions for economic growth: redesigning fiscal policies in Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas
Brown, Stephen P. A. (1987-07)
Economic and Financial Policy Review , Issue Jul , Pages 13-20

Journal Article
The pricing of natural gas in U.S. markets
Yücel, Mine K.; Brown, Stephen P. A. (1993-04)
Stephen Brown and Mine Ycel examine how different natural gas users and the market institutions serving them affect the transmission of price changes throughout various markets for natural gas. Electrical utilities and industrial users buy much of their natural gas in a competitive spot market served by brokers and interstate pipeline companies. In contrast, most commercial and residential customers are dependent on local distribution companies, which earn a regulated rate of return and buy their gas under long-term contracts. ; Using time-series methods, Brown and Ycel find that even in the ...
Economic and Financial Policy Review , Issue Apr , Pages 41-51

Journal Article
Terms of trade and OECD policies to mitigate global climate change
Huntington, Hillard G.; Brown, Stephen P. A. (2003)
Previous economic research has identified two ways policy to mitigate global climate change could be implemented without minimizing world costs. Costs are boosted when agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are limited to a subset of countries or deadlines for reducing emissions force the premature retirement of energy-using capital equipment. Stephen Brown and Hillard Huntington identify a third way global warming policy could prove more costly from a world perspective-by countries using criteria other than a fuel's greenhouse gas content when determining how to reduce their ...
Economic and Financial Policy Review