High gas prices are inducing consumers to tighten their belts and politicians to call for taxes on oil companies. This Outlook explores the true causes of oil price fluctuation and explains how policymakers can help lower gasoline prices.

A bad incentive structure creates a dire shortage.

If there is one conclusion that should be drawn from the boom in U.S. natural gas production, it is that supplies are so abundant that it makes economic sense to export some of our gas to countries overseas. No one could have imagined that possibility even a few years ago...

Initiatives to expand regulation of the food industries with the overall goal of increasing competition and commodity prices farmers receive often have the unintended consequence of raising consumer prices and lowering farmers’ prices while reducing the quality and variety of food products available to consumers.

Facebook Inc. took a momentous action last week. And I don’t mean its announced intention to sell shares for $28 to $35 in an initial public offering later this month.

President Barack Obama has been on a tour of college campuses touting proposals to lower student loan repayments for college graduates. He hopes to rekindle the enthusiasm of young voters, who in 2008 favored him over Sen. John McCain by more than two-to-one.

Ironically, these same young Americans...

If the nation truly wants to address the wild roller coaster of price swings, it's important to understand the factors that affect prices.

Despite China's emergence as an economic power and all the talk about how America has become a service economy, U.S. manufacturing is alive and well. But there is a fly in the ointment -- the U.S. has become dangerously dependent on imports of raw materials needed to keep the economy moving.