All too often we appeal to common sense, and that’s not always a bad thing. Common sense tells us that food is good and that fire is dangerous, but there are certain times when our common sense goes completely against the grain of reality.

Albert Einstein once called common sense the “collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.” Of course, Einstein was talking about the application of common sense to complex topics. And what could be more complex than a market in which much of the world’s population is involved. Namely, the gasoline market?

People often assume just by looking at gas prices that there is a massive market manipulation conspired by oil companies to keep gas prices up. It’s easy to envision a darkened room where oil execs think of new ways to keep gasoline prices high.

Common sense tells us that this is the problem, but there is no evidence to support it.

In Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 the Federal Trade Commission, the group we rely on to punish anti-competitive activity, investigated the various oil behemoths and found no evidence to suggest that they are manipulating gas prices in any way. Still, many believe that we should do something to punish the companies.

“[The oil companies] are making too much money, and something should be done about it,” said Connor Cronkhite, a junior geography major.

Do we need things like price caps or “windfall profits,” taxes to correct the current situation? Oftentimes, the damage caused by these government actions outweighs the benefits.

“Price caps are counterproductive,” said economics professor Jeremy Groves. “You end up with higher quantity demanded than supplied. We would have a situation like we had in the 1970s.”

Professor Groves is referring to the period between 1972 to 1981 when the U.S. government attempted to regulate gasoline prices and it led to long waits in gas lines and left many gas stations simply out of gas.

I realize that absence of proof does not mean proof of absence, but everyone is innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The lack of hard evidence that oil companies manipulate gas prices provides huge room for doubt.

So let us not allow our common sense beliefs to leave us and make assumptions. Currently, the oil companies are doing nothing wrong, at least when it comes to gas prices.