Economist professor and former member of the Reagan administration, David Henderson spoke at UGA about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and its relation to oil prices. His talk was entitled, “Do We Need to Go to War for Oil?” An excerpt:

“People seem to think that oil sellers are hostile toward the United States and that somehow makes a difference in price. But it doesn’t. Have you ever bought anything from a hostile seller? Sure. And I’m sure he sold it to you, too. . .

“I was a math major and a physics minor. What I loved about math and physics is that there was an answer. And it didn’t depend on what you wanted. And didn’t depend on if the teacher liked you, there was always an answer. I never in all my years as a physics minor heard someone say as follows, if you’re talking about gravity, I never heard anybody say, ‘Well. . . gravity sucks.’ Except when I moved to California.

“It’s the same with a lot of economics. Despite the jokes that are told about economists disagreeing, there are things we know with close to certainty. And we looked at a few of them today. Production and supply will drive up the price. It will go up a lot more when the demand is inelastic. A price control that keeps the price below the market price will cause a shortage. And because oil is fungible, the danger that any country can do to the United States by restricting the oil supply is quite limited.

“So now to answer my question, ‘Do we need to go to war for oil,’ my answer is ‘No. We don’t.’”