The two oil price shocks of 1973-74 and 1979-80 have been by far the largest price movements to occur in the international economy in the postwar period. This book analyses the adjustments made by oil importing developing countries to those shocks with a view both to understanding an important episode in recent economic history, and to eliciting lessons that can guide successful adjustment to similar events in the future. Unlike other treatments of this subject, the findings of the study are derived by combining a broad-brush approach that covers a large number of countries with the development of techniques that permit an in-depth investigation into a few selected countries. The study develops quantitative economic methods and applies them to contemporary problems in order to yield useful insights for policy makers.
