The Cartel We Love to Hate

摘要

We ought to reconsider opec (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). For years, we've imagined it as a monstrous conspiracy designed to gouge oil-consuming countries and, in particular, to deprive Americans of their birthright to cheap gasoline. OPEC's only saving grace, we've believed, is that it doesn't work especially well. Fine. Well, we may be wrong on all counts. Since 1999, OPEC has increasingly succeeded in setting oil prices, and this hasn't much harmed us. It may not in the future, either.