The recent oil and gas production boom in the contiguous United States generated tens of billions in additional royalty income for owners of oil and gas rights. We use the royalty income shock to study the local multiplier effect of unanticipated income and find that each royalty dollar received...

Innovation-spurred growth in oil and gas production from shale formations led the U.S. to become the global leader in producing oil and natural gas. Because most shale is on private lands, drilling companies must access the resource through private lease contracts that provide a share of the...

Innovations in the energy sector, particularly the extraction of natural gas from shale and tight gas formations using horizontal drilling and "fracking," have helped increase U.S. reserves of natural gas to an estimated 70 years' worth of supply. Some theories suggest such a boom leads to a...