Gasoline prices in the United States have risen sharply recently, leading some newspapers to round up the usual suspects . (Ed. note: further interactive charts relating to this point appear in the original article here .) Data Source: GasBuddy.com But the reality is the price of crude oil has been remarkably stable over the last three years. The international price of crude oil ultimately determines the price Americans pay for gasoline at the pump. Seasonal factors can bring the price temporarily below the long-run relation , and this accounted for the temporarily low gasoline prices that we saw last fall and winter. Movements in gasoline prices back up this spring are basically a return to normal. Average retail price of U.S. gasoline (black) and price predicted on the basis of price of Brent crude oil (blue). Black: average U.S. price of retail gasoline, all formulations, in dollars per gallon, […]