Constantin Gurdgiev: If you think rising energy prices are solely the result of sanctions against Russia, it’s time to reconsider

In a recent article on energy prices published by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research—a self-described “leading free-market think tank”—it took two economics professors to make a textbook case that companies do not collude in setting energy prices. “When gasoline is expensive, people complain that big oil companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil are colluding to keep prices high,” the article reads. “They are wrong. The best way to understand why companies do not collectively cheat consumers is to be found in the tradition of economic price theory.” This argument paralleled similar arguments made by former Harvard University…