Peter Ashton
PKAshton@aol.com

Peter K. Ashton is the president of Innovation & Information Consultants, Inc., an economics and financial consulting firm in Concord, Mass., which specializes in the analysis of the petroleum industry. He has almost 30 years experience analyzing the energy arena, and recently co-authored a report for the Attorney General of the state of Florida on gasoline pricing. He has testified as an expert witness on numerous issues including pricing of crude oil and refined products.

Ashton also has been retained as an expert on gasoline supply and pricing matters by the federal government, several states, and private industry. He has an A.B. degree in economics and government from Colby Colege and a master's degree in international economics and business from Columbia University.

Contributions

Must we have $4 gas prices again? And if so, why?
COMMENTARY | June 168, 2009
Peter Ashton and Henry Banta say a new, costly speculative bubble—a repeat of last summer—is taking shape, and they suggest ways to reduce the risk. Isn’t this an important job, right now, for those in the Obama administration as they extensively rewrite the rules for financial markets?

Ask the candidates what they’d do about $3.50 or $4.00 gas prices
ASK THIS | November 330, 2007
There's no law that prices at the pump must keep soaring, it only seems that way. Peter Ashton puts his finger on the reasons for the severe spikes (more than 100 percent since Bush became president), has ideas on how to combat them, and offers questions for reporters to put to candidates.

The method behind endless gasoline price spikes
COMMENTARY | June 166, 2007
The oil companies have consciously reduced inventories while demand has been steadily growing. The result, as Peter Ashton puts it, is that whenever a refinery hiccups or a pipeline ruptures, there’s a dramatic spike in gas prices.