A report by two economists, Michael Plante and Mine Yucel, explained the cause of the tripling of oil prices between early 2007 and mid-2008 was not the result of speculators pushing prices above physical supply and demand fundamentals, as the drastic increase in the price of crude happened during well-functioning futures and physical markets. "The data are consistent with how a well-functioning futures market would behave, initially when there is tightness in the market and later when there is considerable slack due to the global recession. Futures market traders, therefore, seem to have been routine market participants." They added to the dismissal of speculator involvement by saying, "The behavior of inventories was also consistent with the reality of a tight market."
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