In a time of substantially higher oil prices, Frank developed an economic equilibrium model to address the question to what extent biofuels would drive food prices up to petroleum-equivalent levels as they were expected to gain ground. The model estimated supply and demand curves for both agricultural products and petroleum based on substantial secondary research, and derived joint equilibrium pricing over a 20+ year horizon.
In a separate effort, Frank and his team investigated the economics of alternative fuels (including biofuels) and alternative automotive powertrains (including electric and hybrid vehicles) in an environment where the supply of petroleum was not expected to increase.