Oil and the Western Economic Crisis

by Helen Thompson

This book explains the place of oil in the economic and political predicaments that now confront the West. Thompson explains the problems that the rising cost of oil posed in the years leading up to the 2008 crash, and the difficulties that a volatile oil market now poses to economic recovery under the conditions of high debt, low growth and quantitative easing. The author argues that the 'Gordian knot' created by the economic and political dynamics of supply and demand oil in the present international economy poses a fundamental challenge to the assumption of economic progress embedded in Western democratic expectations. 

Genres: Politics, Economics, Nonfiction, History

130 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 2017

About the author

Helen Thompson is Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK. She is currently principal investigator on a research project on austerity and its consequences within the EU, which is financed by the Philomathia Foundation.

Reviews

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent look at the interplay between oil prices and the economies of Western Europe, the US and Canada. Thompson makes a convincing case that the shale oil boom could only have happened after central bankers had flooded markets with money at near-zero interest rates, and that in spite of the cheap-money-fueled boost to shale drillers, Western geo-political influence is waning.

My full review is at:
http://www.resilience.org/stories/201...

[Jackson Emanuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant! While I'm no expert in geopolitics or political economy, this book provides a very accessible overview of the oil supply challenges confronting Western governments, with particular emphasis on the period of 1970-2016. Although this is a slim volume, it is so dense with insights, I cannot overstate its usefulness to any reader seeking to understand the modern politics of oil.