Historical Oil Shocks

James Hamilton

No 16790, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper surveys the history of the oil industry with a particular focus on the events associated with significant changes in the price of oil. Although oil was used much differently and was substantially less important economically in the nineteenth century than it is today, there are interesting parallels between events in that era and more recent developments. Key post-World-War-II oil shocks reviewed include the Suez Crisis of 1956-57, the OPEC oil embargo of 1973-1974, the Iranian revolution of 1978-1979, the Iran-Iraq War initiated in 1980, the first Persian Gulf War in 1990-91, and the oil price spike of 2007-2008. Other more minor disturbances are also discussed, as are the economic downturns that followed each of the major postwar oil shocks.

JEL-codes: E32 Q41 Q43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-ene, nep-his and nep-mac
Note: EEE EFG
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (167)

Published as “Historical Oil Shocks,” in Routledge Handbook of Major Events in Economic History, pp. 239-265, edited by Randall E. Parker and Robert Whaples, New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2013 .

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