{
  "id": 16217736,
  "title": "Can presidents affect gas prices?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/23/can-presidents-affect-gas-prices",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-23T18:10:33.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Futurity",
    "slug": "futurity",
    "url": "https://www.futurity.org/can-presidents-affect-gas-prices-3349982/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Economists have long dismissed the notion that presidents can impact gas prices as mere economic ignorance, but a new study suggests otherwise. The research, published in Energy Economics, reveals significant variations in average gas prices across different administrations, even after adjusting for factors like crude oil prices, fuel taxes, economic downturns, and global events.\n\nThe study, conducted by Matthew Oliver, a professor at Georgia Tech's School of Economics, and Dylan Brewer, an associate professor at the same institution, sought to address the longstanding assumption that presidents have no measurable influence on fuel prices. Oliver and Brewer's findings, based on 19 years of weekly fuel-price data in the US, Canada, Great Britain, and France, indicate that gas prices do indeed fluctuate under different presidents.\n\nThe researchers commissioned a nationwide survey of 1,018 US residents and 216 professional economists, revealing a stark contrast in perceptions. While 57.1% of energy experts believed the president had little to no influence over retail gas prices, over two-thirds of non-experts held the opposite view, asserting that the president has a moderate to strong influence.\n\nDespite the researchers' inability to establish a direct causal link between presidents and gas prices, their study documents a pattern of changing fuel prices across administrations in multiple countries. In Canada, gasoline prices were approximately 47 cents per gallon lower under Prime Minister Mark Carney than during his predecessor, Justin Trudeau's tenure. In the United Kingdom, gasoline prices were around 55 cents per gallon lower under Theresa May compared to David Cameron's time in office. In the United States, gasoline prices were about 39 cents per gallon higher during Barack Obama's early years in office compared to George W. Bush's final years.\n\nWhile the study acknowledges that numerous variables influence fuel prices, the researchers argue that the existence of these price differences across administrations suggests that the presidential administration may play a role. Oliver emphasizes the importance of this question to the public, noting that it has the potential to impact election outcomes, particularly during midterms when gas prices are often a significant concern for voters.",
  "summary": "Economists have long dismissed the idea that presidents influence gas prices, but new research calls that assumption into question.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}