There are many possible reasons for suspecting market failure in a product like gasoline. Throughout the world, the exploration, refining, and selling of petroleum products has long been controlled by large firms in oligopolistic or monopolized national markets. The United States is a sufficiently large importer of oil that it could have monopsony power, which would mean that we could increase the welfare of our own citizens by reducing our imports. Moreover, the consumption of petroleum products, especially in motor vehicles, generates many negative external costs, and will begin to examine closely in the next chapter. Where there are negative externalities, a free market will overproduce and over consume. (more…)