Critical Issues in Energy
An Economic Forum for College and University Faculty
November 2, 2006
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Energy prices have been on an upward trajectory for four years, prompting worries about the world economy plunging into an energy crisis. Is the era of cheap energy over? How important are geopolitical factors? Where does the debate stand on global warming? What’s at stake with a national energy policy? These questions have far-reaching consequences that affect everyone.

Critical Issues in Energy, a one-day conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, will address these concerns. Specific topics will include:

Considerations and Compromises in Developing a National Energy Policy Geopolitics of World Energy Effects of Oil Prices on the U.S. Economy Global Warming What’s Driving Natural Gas Prices? What’s Driving Oil Prices? The Economics of Energy Efficiency

Agenda

About the Speakers

Stephen P. A. Brown
Director of Energy Economics and
Microeconomic Policy Analysis
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Brown joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in 1981 after working as an energy economist for Brookhaven National Laboratory and teaching economics at several universities. He is currently an adjunct professor of economics at Southern Methodist University and Tulane University. Brown has authored numerous articles appearing in such publications as Economic Inquiry, Review of Regional Studies, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance and The Energy Journal, among others. Brown holds a B.S. in economics from California Polytechnic State University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland.

Amy Myers Jaffe
Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies
Baker Institute for Public Policy
Rice University
Jaffe is the associate director of the Rice University Energy Program. She leads the Baker Institute Energy Forum and focuses her research on oil geopolitics, strategic energy policy, energy science policy and energy economics. Jaffe served as an advisor to the U.S. National Intelligence Council Study on Energy to 2015. She also served as project director for the Baker Institute/Council on Foreign Relations task force on strategic energy policy and was a principal advisor to USAID’s project on Options for Developing a Long-Term Sustainable Iraqi Oil Industry. Prior to joining the Baker Institute, Jaffe was the senior editor and Middle East analyst for Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. She has appeared on the “MacNeil Lehrer NewsHour,” CNN, FOX and MSNBC. She is widely published in academic journals, including National Interest, Survival, Foreign Affairs and a chapter in the Encyclopedia of Energy. She is co-editor of two books, The Geopolitics of Natural Gas and Energy in the Caspian Region: Present and Future. She holds a B.A. in Near Eastern and Arabic studies from Princeton University.

Frederick L. Joutz
Director, Research Program on Forecasting
Department of Economics
The George Washington University
Joutz has taught econometrics, forecasting macroeconomics, money and banking, and energy economics at The George Washington University since 1988. He has served as a consultant and technical expert to several federal government agencies and private corporations, where he wrote research reports, conducted market analyses, developed econometric models and forecasts, provided technical support, and conducted technical workshops and training sessions. Joutz has also taught at Oberlin College and worked for the think tank Resources for the Future. He served as an associate editor for Energy Economics and International Journal of Forecasting. He contributes quarterly forecasts of about 25 U.S. macroeconomic variables to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Survey of Professional Forecasters and the Economic Survey International. Joutz received an M.A. in economics from the University of British Columbia and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington.

Kenneth B. Medlock III
Fellow in Energy Studies
Baker Institute for Public Policy
Rice University
Medlock is a research fellow in energy studies at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and adjunct assistant professor in the economics department at Rice University. He is a principal in the Baker Institute ’s development of the Rice World Natural Gas Trade Model. Previously, Medlock was a corporate consultant at El Paso Energy Corp., where he was responsible for analysis of North American natural gas, petroleum and power markets. He also served on the modeling subgroup for the National Petroleum Council study of long-term natural gas markets in North America. Medlock’s articles appear in such publications as the Encyclopedia of Energy, The Energy Journal, Journal of Transport Economics and Policy and International Association of Energy Economics Newsletter. He recently completed a Baker Institute study on “The Energy Security Value of Nuclear Power in Japan.” Medlock holds a Ph.D. in economics from Rice University.

Shirley J. Neff
Adjunct Lecturer and Research Scholar
Center for Energy, Marine Transportation
and Public Policy
Columbia University
In addition to her position at Columbia University, Neff is president of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics (USAEE), executive director of the New York Energy Forum and an advisor to the Center for Energy Economics at the Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin. Neff was the economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for seven years (1993–96 and 1999–2003). She was also a senior governmental affairs director for Shell in 1996–98 and was the director of government relations and policy for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, 1989–93. In 2001, she served on an energy policy task force for the Council on Foreign Relations. She has received the Key Women in Energy–Global award and in 2003 was a recipient of USAEE’s Senior Fellow Award. Neff earned a B.S. from Iowa State University and an M.S. in economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

James L. Smith
Cary M. Maguire Chair of Oil and Gas Management
Cox School of Business
Southern Methodist University
Smith has held the Cary M. Maguire Chair of Oil and Gas Management at Southern Methodist University since 1995. Before joining SMU, he taught at the University of Houston, the University of Maryland and the University of Illinois. Smith’s publications on various aspects of energy economics and management have appeared in numerous academic and trade journals, including American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Theory, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Economic Journal, Oil and Gas Journal and World Oil. He is editor of The Energy Journal. His current research focuses on the international oil market, auction theory, and energy finance and risk management. Smith has been a consultant for several large oil and gas corporations and for the Department of Energy. He serves on the executive council of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics. He is also a research associate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. Smith is the recipient of several teaching awards at SMU. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

James L. Sweeney
Professor of Management Science and Engineering
Stanford University
Sweeney is a senior fellow of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; senior fellow of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace; and senior fellow of the Stanford Institute for International Studies. His professional activities focus on economic policy and analysis, particularly in energy, natural resources and the environment. He is the author of The California Electricity Crisis and co-editor of the three-volume Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics. His articles have appeared in numerous books and journals, including Econometrica, Journal of Economic Theory and Resources and Energy. He was a founding member of the International Association for Energy Economics. He is a senior fellow of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics and a fellow of the California Council on Science and Technology. He periodically serves as a consultant or advisor to ExxonMobil Corp., Cornerstone Research, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and other organizations. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University in engineering-economic systems.

John P. Weyant
Professor, Department of Management Science
and Engineering
Stanford University
Weyant began working at Stanford in 1977, primarily to develop the Energy Modeling Forum. He was formerly a senior research associate in the Department of Operations Research, a member of the Stanford International Energy Project and a fellow in the U.S.–Northeast Asia Forum on International Policy. He is an adviser to the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. His current research focuses on global climate change, energy security, corporate strategy analysis and Japanese energy policy. Weyant is on the editorial boards of The Energy Journal and Petroleum Management. His national society memberships include the American Economics Association, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Econometric Society and International Association of Energy Economists. Weyant received a Ph.D. in management science from the University of California at Berkeley and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.

Mine K. Yücel
Vice President and Senior Economist
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
As an energy economist and head of the Bank’s regional group, Yücel analyzes the regional economy and energy markets and has published numerous articles on energy and regional growth. She is past president of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics (USAEE), past president of the Dallas Economists Club and a member of the American Economic Association and International Association for Energy Economics. She has served on the executive boards of the USAEE and the Dallas Chapter of Women in Technology International Inc. In 2006, Yücel was chosen as one of the recipients of the Key Women in Energy–Global award. Currently, she serves on the Greater Dallas Chamber’s Life Sciences Committee and the Chamber’s Board of Economists. Before joining the Bank in 1989, she was an assistant professor of economics at Louisiana State University. Yücel has a B.S. and M.S. in mathematics from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, and a Ph.D. in economics from Rice University.