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Austan Goolsbee, Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics, is now the author of columns in Fortune magazine and on Slate.com , where recent topics include why �529� state college savings plans aren't a good bet and how oil conservation efforts could make the U.S. even more dependent on foreign oil.
After Hurricane Katrina hit, Goolsbee spoke to television reporters in Chicago about the economic after effects of the devastation, warning that prices at the gas pump and on home heating bills would probably be high as a result.
�If this hurricane devastates those refineries or does permanent damage to those rigs, the price of gas in the US , Midwest and southeast, will be high for many months,� he told NBC 5 television. �We could be looking at serious price increases for home heating oil, which people were already saying may set records before the storm came about.�
Goolsbee told Fox News, �We're basically going to have one of two things happen: either it's just going to be painful, or it's going to be really, really painful. We're rooting for painful.�
But he doesn't believe the oil companies are price-gouging people and eventually prices will drop a bit.
�This $3-plus prices that we've seen, if I had to make a bet, I would say it's going to come down from those peaks, because people were already factoring in the worst-case scenario, and we didn't get the worst-case scenario. But $2.50? You'd better just get used to it, because it's going to be there for a long, long time.�