Oil's Fast and Furious Fall Risks Upending Economists' Optimism

The slide in oil prices may be coming too fast to provide the traditional fillip for the world economy.

Last year’s 50 percent plunge in Brent crude from its June peak prompted most economists to predict a boost to global growth as it bolsters consumers’ spending power, echoing effects from declines in the 1980s and 1990s. Now that the fall has extended another 21 percent barely two weeks into 2015, it risks not being as positive as some first imagined.