I'd love a writeup on this topic by an economist, or maybe a What If? article from Randall Munroe. If you can use it to transform and create complex molecules

I'd love a writeup on this topic by an economist, or maybe a What If? article from Randall Munroe. If you can use it to transform and create complex molecules I imagine the market for refined petroleum products dwarfs that for metals. But suppose you can only transform one element to another. You'd have to take into account the expense of obtaining a large supply of a pure element. By mass I would guess pure carbon is the cheapest element.