Research by Rabah Arezki, Thiemo Fetzer and Frank Pisch shows that the surge in shale gas production ? `fracking? ? since the early 2000s has not only made the United States the world?s largest producer of natural gas. It has also given a big boost to output, employment, and exports in US manufacturing, particularly in energy-intensive industries. Their study finds that energy prices for US manufacturing firms have plummeted due to fracking, especially relative to Europe. Lower input costs for energy-intensive US industries have made them more globally competitive. What?s more, the shale gas boom helped the US economy to recover faster after the financial crisis.

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13 December 2016     Paper Number CEPCP486

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This CentrePiece article is published under the centre's Trade programme.