Economist David H. Wang, who grew up in China but moved permanently to the United States in 1989 for graduate study, is a fan of both traditional Chinese and contemporary American cuisine. And among his favorite American entrees is the classic porterhouse steak dinner.

On Tuesday Wang spent part of the day reading the restaurant reviews of some of New York's world-class steak houses. (We won't list the restaurants' names in this space: they would represent free plugs, and each has a business strong enough to pay for an advertisement.)

Almost reservation time

Wang reviewed the steakhouses' menus because he is likely to win a wager with yours truly, involving the price of oil. I argued that the price of oil would never drop below $40 per barrel again. Wang argued it would, and would also remain below $80. The wager calls for the loser to buy the winner a dinner in every year the price of oil drops below $40 or rises above $80.

Now back in May the wager looked like an 'easy win' for me: oil was sitting pretty, with a price above $110 and arcing ever higher. It looked like economist Wang would be buying dinners for many years in a row.