As stories proliferate of Venezuelans waiting in line for
hours for basic staples and people paying $755 for a pack of condoms, it’s been
been easy – too easy – to fit Venezuela’s economic collapse into the “falling
oil prices” narrative. After all, when 95 per cent of your export earnings come
from one commodity and its price drops by more than half, you’d expect a bit of
turbulence, wouldn’t you? Well yes, but only if you’re not prepared. The oil
market’s volatility is nothing new: wild boom and bust episodes have been with
us since the 1970s. Which is why smart oil-dependent countries realized long
ago they’d better save up during boomtime, so they could have some sort of
cushion during the busts. Smart oil-dependent countries such as…Venezuela. More…
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Guest post: Venezuela’s collapse has nothing to do with falling oil prices
As stories proliferate of Venezuelans waiting in line for
hours for basic staples and people paying $755 for a pack of condoms, it’s been
been easy – too easy – to fit Venezuela’s economic collapse into the “falling
oil prices” narrative. After all, when 95 per cent of your export earnings come
from one commodity and its price drops by more than half, you’d expect a bit of
turbulence, wouldn’t you? Well yes, but only if you’re not prepared. The oil
market’s volatility is nothing new: wild boom and bust episodes have been with
us since the 1970s. Which is why smart oil-dependent countries realized long
ago they’d better save up during boomtime, so they could have some sort of
cushion during the busts. Smart oil-dependent countries such as…Venezuela. More…
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment