The Failure To Learn From Boom-Bust Cycles (Wall Street Journal)
October 11, 2015
From the article: The plunge in commodity prices is thumping oil exporters around the globe. The scale of the beating rests largely on whether governments heeded the lessons from prior boom-bust cycles.
Norway and Saudi Arabia built up sizable rainy-day funds and managed their windfalls from high prices conservatively. Now they’ve got considerable buffers against a downturn.
Nigeria and Venezuela splurged and made few economic overhauls as prices surged. They’re now suffering as growth skids.
The commodity bust is weighing heavily on resource-rich countries that represent 20% of the world’s economic output. The oil-price decline is supporting some of the largest consumers, such as the U.S. and Europe, that are key to keeping the global economy out of recession. But it is providing less of an overall global boost than predicted just a year ago, while forcing more vulnerable economies to scramble in an uncertain environment.