When borders don't matter: development and global culture - Neoliberal economics - Oil shocks and stagnation

7 important questions on When borders don't matter: development and global culture - Neoliberal economics - Oil shocks and stagnation

What ensured that oil supplies to the West remained affordable and abundant?

Britain's influence in Iraq prior to the seizure of power by the nationalist Ba'ath Party in 1963, and America's leverage in Iran, together with the compliance of the absolute monarchy in Saudi Arabia, ensured that oil supplies to the West remained affordable and abundant.

What decision changed oil supply to the West?

  • It changed suddenly with the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and America's airlift of supplies to Israel.
  • Led by Saudi Arabia, the member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, founded in 1960) announced restrictions on the sale of oil to Europe and Japan and a five-month embargo on the sale of oil to the US.
  • This was followed by the quadrupling of the price of OPEC-produced crude over the next two years, a development that sent shock waves through the world economy.

What consequences did the oil embargo have?

The oil embargo against the US created a short-term inconvenience for American consumers who waited in long lines at petrol stations, but more fundamentally the decision of OPEC to raise prices led to the most serious economic downturn in the West since the Great Depression.
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What influence did oil shocks have for developing countries?

  • The oil shocks had a disproportionate impact on developing countries that relied upon imported oil to stimulate their economies. They were now obliged to borrow on international markets in order to maintain the flow of oil.
  • Assuming new debt, oil-importing nations in Africa and Latin America found their economic well-being tied directly to lending institutions in the world's richest states.

What urban changes are there in the oil states?

  • Urban development, and new employment opportunities in the cities, spurred a rapid growth in migration from rural areas.
  • In sparsely populated kingdoms such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, foreign migrants from non-oil-producing Muslim countries provided much of the manual labor force for the varied undertakings, while skilled professionals from the West assisted the various royal families with infrastructure projects.

What did the Saudi royal family use their money for?

The Saudi royal family used oil revenues to extend educational opportunities and improve health care. A Saudi middle class emerged whose strong appetite for foreign products helped to forge a robust consumer culture.

How did the OPEC cartel inspire developing states?

  • The example of the OPEC cartel, using the export of strategic raw materials as a political weapon, convinced other resource-rich developing states that they too might leverage their products in order to redress the historic economic imbalance between North and South.
  • It was hoped that the massive transfer of wealth from Western industrial consumer states to the oil-producing countries might be repeated with raw materials such as bauxite, cobalt, copper, and tin.

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