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Energy Prices and the U.S. Business Cycle

William Poole*
President, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Global Interdependence Center (GIC) Abroad in Chile Conference
American Chamber of Commerce in Chile Breakfast
Santiago, Chile
March 2, 2007

*I appreciate comments provided by my colleagues at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Edward Nelson, assistant vice president, provided special assistance. I take full responsibility for errors. The views expressed are mine and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Federal Reserve System.

Energy Prices and the U.S. Business Cycle

A staple of the macroeconomics literature is that energy price shocks have been an important contributor to U.S. recessions. The situation is clearly more complicated than the common macro textbook exercise of using standard diagrams to work out the effects of an energy shock. Recent experience with a near tripling of oil prices from mid 2003 to mid 2006 without a recession suggests the need to review the conventional wisdom. One of my messages will be that the conventional wisdom fails to consider the fact that previous oil price shocks occurred when the U.S. economy was already suffering from substantial inflation pressures, whereas the recent run-up of oil prices has occurred in an economy with substantial overall price stability and entrenched, low inflation expectations.

Before I dig into the issue of the extent of causality between oil price shocks and recessions, I want to emphasize that the views I express here are mine and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Federal Reserve System. I thank my colleagues at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis for their comments; Ed Nelson, asistant vice president, provided special assistance. However, I retain full responsibility for errors.
The Debate

The historical record since 1970 provides some perspective on the relationship between oil prices and the business cycle. The figure (at end of text) plots the U.S. benchmark oil price (the West Texas intermediate spot price), both in nominal terms (i.e., current U.S. dollars) and real terms (i.e., deflated by the CPI so as to be in constant 1982-84 dollars) since 1970. Shaded regions denote U.S. recessions, as designated by the National Bureau of Economic Research. These include the recession of 1973-75, associated with the oil price shock of 1973-74, the recessions of 1980 and 1981-82, preceded by the second oil shock in 1979, and the recession of 1990-91, also associated with a large, but more transitory, oil price increase of about 75 percent in 1990-91. There are also more drawn-out but steep oil increases in 1999-2000 and 2003-2006. The presence of the recession bars in the graph brings out what Hamilton and Herrera (2004, p. 265) observe is “a correlation between increases in oil prices and subsequent economic downturns.” In particular, recessions began in the United States within a year of the 1973, 1979 and 1990 oil price increases.

There has been much debate on how much of this link between recessions and prior oil price increases should be attributed to the powerful effect of oil shocks on the economy, and how much reflects a third factor—more restrictive monetary policy imposed at roughly the same time as the oil shocks. But I would draw attention to another aspect of the relationship between the business cycle and oil prices highlighted by the figure. The United States has never had an energy price spike occur in the middle of a recession, or immediately following a recession when unemployment is still relatively high. This fact suggests two properties of large oil price increases that are useful to keep in mind. First, very sharp increases in oil prices that we have observed historically, while undoubtedly reflecting exogenous supply disruptions to some degree, also reflect the strength of the economy at the time. Secondly, the casual association often made, based on the 1970s experience, between oil price increases and high inflation, is largely misguided because the large oil price increases of the 1970s occurred against the background of cyclical expansions that had gone too far.

The 1973 and 1979 episodes did not feature inflationary spirals triggered by the oil shocks. Instead, they are characterized by preexisting, general inflationary pressures that an alternative monetary policy could have avoided. The first oil shock in 1973 occurred against a background of clear economic overheating in the United States. U.S. monetary policy was very expansionary in 1971 and 1972, leading to excessive growth of aggregate demand that, even in the presence of price controls, spilled over into rising inflation in 1973. By October 1973—that is, the month of the first oil shock, but largely before its impact could be felt in the CPI—inflation had reached 8.1 percent on a 12-month basis, a sharp rise from the 3.2 percent rate over the 12 months ending in October 1972. Annual CPI inflation subsequently rose to 11.8 percent in October 1974 and peaked at 12.2 percent in November 1974.

Similarly, in the wake of several years of expanding demand, inflation rose throughout most of 1977 and 1978, well before the second oil shock, and the 12-month rate stood at 9.3 percent in January 1979, 2.5 percentage points above its value of January 1978. Inflation subsequently peaked at 14.6 percent in March 1980. Even the 1990 oil price spike occurred late in a long economic expansion, with annual inflation having stood above 4 percent since mid-1988. In July 1990, the 12-month CPI inflation rate was 4.8 percent, too high to correspond to price stability and not far below the July 1989 value of 5.1 percent. Following the oil shock that began in August 1990, inflation peaked at 6.4 percent in October 1990.

The strength of the economy at the time of the three oil shocks is also reflected in the unemployment rate. In October 1973, the seasonally adjusted U.S. unemployment rate stood at 4.6 percent, its lowest rate since early 1970; in January 1979 it was 5.9 percent, close to its trough for the late 1970s expansion; and in July 1990, unemployment was 5.5 percent, above its March 1989 low of 5.0 percent, but still lower than its value in any month in the years 1975-1987.

This emphasis on the link between the state of the business cycle and the strength of oil prices may seem surprising. Many of the well-known spikes in the oil price are associated with exogenous events on the supply side: for example, OPEC’s quadrupling of the oil price in late 1973 in the wake of the Middle East war; OPEC’s doubling of the oil price in 1979 following the revolution in Iran; and Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. These events were certainly major supply-side disruptions. But even a cartel like OPEC that administers the price of its product cannot ignore market conditions. In particular, a reason why OPEC was able to sustain the very large 1973 oil price increase for so long was because world demand for oil was underpinned by rapid expansion of aggregate demand in key markets in Europe, Japan and the United States. Indeed, some analysts of the 1973 oil shock have cast doubt on whether the oil price increase of 1973 can be considered an exogenous event at all; Barsky and Kilian (2001) argue that it was a delayed response to long-term demand developments in the oil market, combined with a response to contemporaneous buoyant world demand conditions.(1) We do not have to go this far, however, to recognize that there was a significant endogenous component to the oil price increases in 1973 and 1979 due to demand factors, reflecting an overheating of the U.S. economy which coincided with boom conditions in other advanced economies.
Oil Prices and Inflation

Members of the FOMC, as well as monetary policy makers in Europe and the United Kingdom, have spoken about oil prices and inflation on many occasions in recent years. Despite differences in emphasis, a clear proposition runs through these discussions: Irrespective of the behavior of oil prices, we can be confident that monetary policy oriented to price stability will deliver control over inflation over the medium term. It is worth spelling out this proposition in some detail.

The reason why price stability is not contingent on oil price behavior is that inflation is a sustained rise in the general level of prices. The price of oil enters heavily into a particular category of consumer prices—gasoline prices—and indirectly into the prices of many other products. It is possible for the price of energy-intensive goods to change relative to a general index of prices; in fact, such relative-price movements are part of the everyday workings of a market economy. And, over periods of, say, a year or more it is possible for monetary policy to secure low inflation—which means low growth rates in indexes of overall prices—even when energy price inflation is high. Over time, the general level of prices responds to the supply-demand imbalance in the economy: that is, to longer-term movement in total spending in the economy relative to long-run supply potential. Monetary policy actions affect the total volume of spending, and so can influence the balance between aggregate demand and supply. By keeping aggregate demand in balance with aggregate supply, monetary policy can create conditions for general price stability, even if certain components in the price index are persistently increasing.

Two aspects of this picture are worth emphasizing. First, the overall price level is susceptible to influence by monetary policy even if the price of oil, or other commodities, is being driven by exogenous supply events. That is why Milton Friedman could advance his proposition that “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon” even though he acknowledged that the 1973 OPEC shock had produced a “drastic alteration in the conditions of supply of crude oil.”(2) The general trend of prices is distinct from the behavior of a single price in the index or subset of the index. Inflation is always an endogenous variable in the medium term, whatever exogenous shocks are affecting its components in the short term.

Secondly, monetary policymakers often pay attention to “core” measures of prices that exclude energy and food prices. This focus does not, however, mean that policymakers’ concept of price stability refers only to a basket of goods that excludes energy-intensive items. The overall cost of living is what matters for welfare, so stability over time in indexes that include energy is desirable. But because the price of gasoline is volatile, it is often desirable to “see through” very short-term movements in consumer prices, and work out what is happening to the underlying trend of prices. Looking at core measures of inflation can be useful for this purpose. Indeed core and aggregate inflation clearly move together over longer periods. That said, during periods of sustained increases in relative energy prices, general price stability requires that price indexes that exclude energy will need to grow more slowly than the aggregate price index; over this period, achievement of inflation at a desirable level means that core inflation, on average, proceeds below the overall level of inflation.

Thirdly, an oil price increase may reduce aggregate supply and policymakers also need to take this fact into account in keeping demand and supply in balance. This issue is most prominent when the oil price change is permanent and when the economy’s technology is very energy-intensive on average. The 1973 oil shock, for example, was long-lasting and took place at a time when U.S. production was very energy-inefficient. Potential output thus fell substantially. The economy was already overheated by 1973; so, some reining in of spending by monetary policy was justified even before the oil shock; but once the oil shock took place, monetary policy needed to tighten, just to keep supply and demand from going further into imbalance. That is, it was necessary to let actual output fall with the decline in potential output. From this perspective, Hamilton and Herrera (2004) are not necessarily posing the right question when they ask how much of a monetary policy loosening would have been required to avoid a recession after the 1973 oil shock. The supply shock alone justified a monetary policy tightening on stabilization grounds.

In recent years, on the other hand, the circumstances of the 1973 oil shock have not been repeated. The economy has not been overheated; the economy is more energy-efficient so the impact on supply of oil shocks has been moderated; and the more severe spikes in the oil price such as in summer 2006 have been recognized as transitory in nature. In these circumstances, monetary policy is in a much better position to support aggregate demand in the face of oil shocks without endangering medium-term price stability. This state of affairs has been emphasized by the Federal Reserve Chairman in his discussion of the effect of oil shocks (Bernanke, 2006).

In summary, maintenance of low inflation over a period of several years or more is achievable whatever happens to oil prices. The same was true in the 1970s, and the fact that inflation was high on average reflected over-expansionary monetary policy, not the oil shocks.
Recent Oil Price Increases

The oil price increase in 2003-2006 is in line with the earlier pattern that surges in oil prices occur during economic expansions. Indeed, recent increases are more clearly a demand phenomenon than the previous increases. Energy prices in recent years have been driven by demand rather than supply. The source of this demand is unusual compared to the past, with a smaller contribution of U.S. demand and a much larger contribution of China. China’s net imports of oil were projected to be 2.3 percent of its GDP in 2006 compared to 0.9 percent in 2002 (IMF, 2006, p. 31). A longer-term perspective is given by the fact that China’s share of world demand for oil is estimated to have risen from 3.5 percent in 1990 to around 8.2 percent in 2006 (Weber, 2006). This increase reflects the rapid growth and industrialization of China in the past fifteen years, as well as the use of production technology that is, on average, energy-inefficient compared to the United States.
Conclusions

Without question, energy supply shocks are disruptive, but they need not create recessions. Indeed, there is a more general lesson from experience with oil price shocks. Monetary policy should not allow an economy to operate at the edge of a cliff. When balanced precariously at the edge of a cliff, even a minor disturbance, oil or otherwise, may be sufficient to push the economy over the edge. Although an outside shock may be the catalyst, or trigger, that creates undue inflation pressures, the fundamental problem is not the catalyst but the powerful and risky brew of an overheated economy. To use another analogy, if someone opens gas jets and fills a house with gas, do we blame the explosion on the person who lights the match or the person who opened the jets? I know where I want to place the blame.


Footnotes

1. See Hamilton (2003, pp. 388-89) for a rebuttal of Barsky and Kilian’s (2001) position that the 1973-74 oil price increase did not incorporate a major exogenous supply shift.

2. Friedman and Schwartz (1982, p. 414).


References

Barsky, Robert B., and Lutz Kilian (2001). “Do We Really Know That Oil Caused the Great Stagflation? A Monetary Alternative,” NBER Macroeconomics Annual, Vol. 16(1), 137-183.

Bernanke, Ben S. (2006). “Energy and the Economy.” Remarks before the Economic Club of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, June 15.

Friedman, Milton, and Anna J. Schwartz (1982). Monetary Trends in the United States and the United Kingdom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Hamilton, James D. (2003). “What Is an Oil Shock?,” Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 113(2), 363-398.

Hamilton, James D., and Ana Maria Herrera (2004). “Oil Shocks and Aggregate Macroeconomic Behavior: The Role of Monetary Policy,” Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Vol. 36(2), 265-286.

International Monetary Fund (2006). People’s Republic of China—Article IV Consultation: Staff Report. Washington, D.C.

Weber, Axel A. (2006). “Oil Price Shocks and Monetary Policy in the Euro Area.” Whitaker Lecture by President of the Deutsche Bundesbank.


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지구촌 경제 숨통 '호르무즈 10km' [서울=뉴스핌] 황숙혜 기자 = 호르무즈 해협 10km 남짓의 수로가 지구촌 경제의 숨통을 조이고 있다. 미국과 이란의 직접 충돌 이후 이란 혁명수비대가 호르무즈 해협을 통과하는 선박들을 불태운다는 협박을 거듭하는 상황. 160km 길이와 폭 30~50km의 호르무즈 해협에서 실제 항로는 10km 가량이지만 전세계 에너지 거래의 심장부다. 보도에 따르면 머스크와 CMA CGM 등 주요 컨테이너 선사와 탱커, 트레이딩 하우스들은 호르무즈 통항을 전면 중단한 채 우회 또는 대기 중이다. 유럽과 중국 쪽 해운 데이터에서도 3월2일(현지시각) 기준 상업 유조선 통과가 사실상 0에 가까운 것으로 확인된다. 사실상 민간 선박의 통행이 중단되면서 충격파가 지구촌 에너지와 물류 시스템에서 물가, 통화정책, 실물경제까지 덮칠 수 있다는 우려가 번진다. 일부 투자은행(IB)은 물가 급등과 경기 침체를 의미하는 스태그플레이션을 경고한다. 주요 외신에 따르면 호르무즈의 좁은 심해 수로를 통과하는 원유는 교역량의 4분의 1 이상이다. 액화천연가스(LNG) 물량도 전세계 해상 거래의 20%에 이른다. AI 도구를 이용해 미국 에너지정보청(EIA) 분석을 재가공해 보면, 호르무즈를 지나는 원유와 LNG의 80% 이상이 중국과 인도, 일본, 한국 등 네 개 국가로 전달된다. 에너지 흐름은 이미 급제동이 걸렸다. 미국 에너지정보청과 민간 데이터 업체 Kpler의 통계에 따르면 호르무즈를 거쳐 나가던 중동산 원유 가운데 상당 부분이 선적항에서부터 출항이 보류되거나 해협 인근에서 정박하는 실정이다. 호르무즈 해협과 중동 지역 [사진=미국 에너지부, 블룸버그] 걸프 산유국들은 수출항에서의 선적 일정을 조정하고 일부 물량을 내륙 파이프라인을 통해 홍해 또는 지중해 쪽으로 우회하는 방안을 검토하고 있지만 호르무즈를 완전히 대체하기에는 역부족이다. 이미 아시아 LNG 현물 가격을 나타내는 JKM 지수는 3월2일 15.068달러/MMBtu까지 상승하며 2025년 2월13일 이후 최고치를 찍었다. 국제 유가도 이번 사태 직전보다 20~30% 가량 뛴 상태다. 주요 투자은행(IB)은 단기적으로 브렌트유가 배럴당 90달러 선을 중심으로 변동할 것으로 보되, 호르무즈 봉쇄가 길어질 경우 120달러 선까지도 상단이 열려 있다고 경고한다. 단순한 리스크 프리미엄이 아니라 물리적 공급 차질에 따른 구조적 유가 상승이라는 설명이다. 중국과 유럽의 경기 둔화, 미국의 셰일 생산 여력, OPEC(석유수출국기구) 플러스(+)의 증산 여지를 감안한 다수의 시나리오에서도 호르무즈 봉쇄로 인해 당장 하루 2000만 배럴에 달하는 물량이 제때 시장에 도달하지 못하면 과거 걸프전 당시와 유사한 수준의 가격 충격이 재현될 수 있다는 전망이 나온다. 유가만의 문제가 아니다. 유조선과 LNG선, 컨테이너선이 호르무즈와 인근 해역을 기피하거나 우회하면서 해상 운임과 보험료가 동시에 치솟는 모양새다. 한 LNG 트레이딩 업체는 중동 항로의 워 리스크(war risk) 보험료가 화물 가치의 15~25% 수준으로 치솟았다고 전했고, 이로 인해 일부 선사는 차라리 선박을 놀리거나 다른 노선으로 돌리는 실정이라고 전했다. 중국 신화통신은 글로벌 선사들이 호르무즈와 페르시아만 항로를 피하기 위해 선박을 재배치하면서 해상운임과 보험료가 동시에 상승하고, 일부 화주들은 아예 신규 예약을 중단했다고 보도했다. 운임과 보험 쇼크는 곧바로 에너지 수입 가격과 전력 요금, 나아가 광범위한 물류비 상승으로 이어질 수 있다. 정유사와 발전사, 석유화학 기업의 원가가 이중으로 압박받게 되고, 여기에 컨테이너선과 벌크선까지 위험 해역을 피해 돌아가기 시작하면 중간재와 원자재, 곡물과 사료까지 운송 시간이 늘어나고 비용이 오른다. 호르무즈 해협의 폐쇄가 장기화되면 글로벌 공급망은 또 한 번 구조적인 병목을 겪을 전망이다. 가뜩이나 끈적끈적한 물가가 재차 급등할 수 있다는 우려가 나온다. 호르무즈 봉쇄로 유가가 배럴당 100달러를 넘어서는 수준으로 유지될 경우 미국과 유로존, 아시아 등 주요 수입국의 소비자물가지수가 수개월간 0.5~1.0%포인트의 상방 압력을 받을 수 있다는 시뮬레이션 결과가 여러 연구기관에서 제시된다. 유가가 배럴당 120달러를 넘고 상황이 장기화되는 경우에는 특히 에너지 집약도가 높은 신흥국과 유럽 일부 국가에서 물가와 성장률이 동시에 악화되는 스태그플레이션이 닥칠 수 있다는 경고다. AI 도구로 세계은행과 IMF, 민간 리서치기관의 모델을 종합하면 유가가 10달러 상승할 때마다 글로벌 경제 성장률은 0.1~0.2%포인트씩 떨어지고, 에너지 수입국의 경상수지와 재정 부담이 눈에 띄게 악화되는 것으로 확인된다. 유가 150달러 시나리오에 대한 스트레스 테스트에서는 일부 취약 신흥국에서 통화 가치 급락과 경상수지 위기가 동시에 발생할 수 있다는 결과도 제시됐다. 지금과 같이 전쟁과 제재, 수송 차질이 겹친 상황에서는 단순히 유가 상승분만이 아니라 LNG와 전력요금, 곡물과 비료, 운임비까지 연쇄적으로 튀어오를 수 있어 기존의 "유가 파급계수"보다 충격이 더 커질 수 있다는 점이 AI 기반 시뮬레이션에서 공통적으로 드러난다. 호르무즈 봉쇄가 장기화될 경우 아시아 제조 강국들의 심장부를 이루는 반도체와 석유화학, 철강, 조선, 자동차 산업이 동시에 압박을 받을 전망이다. 정유사와 발전사는 더 높은 가격에 원유와 LNG를 조달해야 하고, 이는 곧 전기 요금과 산업용 연료비 상승으로 이어질 수 있다. 석유 화학과 철강, 시멘트 등 에너지 소비가 높은 업종은 원재료와 연료 비용 상승과 동시에 해상 운임 상승까지 감내해야 한다. 자동차와 조선, 전자업체들은 중간재와 부품 공급 지연, 운송비 상승, 해외 수요 위축이라는 삼중고를 마주할 수 있다. 시장 전문가들은 10km 바닷길이 막히면서 에너지 공급과 해상 운임, 보험료와 전력 요금, 나아가 세계 각국의 물가와 성장률까지 동시에 흔들리는 '복합 쇼크'가 현실화되는 시나리오를 경고한다. shhwang@newspim.com 2026-03-03 13:17
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900만 울린 '왕사남 강가 포스터' [서울=뉴스핌] 양진영 기자 = 2026년 최고 흥행작에 등극한 영화 '왕과 사는 남자'가 900만 관객 돌파를 기념해 짙은 여운을 남기는 강가 포스터를 공개했다. '왕과 사는 남자'가 3일 900만 관객 돌파에 힘입어 강가 포스터를 공개했다. 영화 속 이홍위(박지훈)의 마지막과 함께 공개되는 장면 속 아련한 모습을 담아 깊은 울림을 전한다. 공개된 포스터는 왕위에서 쫓겨나 청령포로 유배된 이홍위가 강가에 홀로 앉아 쓸쓸히 물장난 치는 장면을 담았다. 흰색 도포를 입고 쪼그려 앉은 이홍위의 모습은 어린 나이에도 자유를 꿈꿨을 그의 심정을 짐작하게 해 먹먹한 감정을 자아낸다. [사진=(주)쇼박스]  특히, 엄흥도 역의 유해진과 이홍위 역의 박지훈이 포스터 속 장면에 대해 직접 소회를 밝힌 바 있어 관객들의 감정을 배가시킨다. 유해진은 "이홍위가 유배지 강가에서 물장난 쳤던 모습이 기억에 남고, 그때 엄흥도의 심정은 아들을 바라보는 심정이 아니었을까? 유배지가 아니라면 자유롭게 있을 나이인데, 너무 안쓰러웠다"라 말하며, 해당 장면에 대한 남다른 애정을 언급하기도 했다. 박지훈 또한 "강가에 쪼그리고 앉아 있는 장면은 해진 선배님의 제안으로 생긴 장면. 생각해 보니 친구들과 뛰어놀고 싶을 시기, 유배지에 와서 혼자 물장난을 치며 무슨 생각을 했을까? 그런 단종의 마음을 표현하려고 노력했다" 며, 해당 장면의 비하인드 스토리와 함께 이홍위의 복합적인 내면을 표현하고자 고심했던 과정을 밝혀 눈길을 모았다. 이처럼 배우들은 물론 900만 관객의 마음을 뒤흔든 강가 포스터는 '비운의 왕'이라는 단종의 단편적 이미지에서 벗어나 '인간 이홍위'에 집중한 '왕과 사는 남자'만의 서사를 선명하게 드러낸다. '왕과 사는 남자'는 1457년 청령포, 마을의 부흥을 위해 유배지를 자처한 촌장과 왕위에서 쫓겨나 유배된 어린 선왕의 이야기를 담은 영화다. 모두가 알고 있는 역사 속 숨겨진 단종의 이야기로 900만 관객의 마음속에 묵직한 감동을 남기며 파죽지세의 흥행을 기록 중이다.  jyyang@newspim.com 2026-03-03 08:11
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