India
Lessons from the 1970s help U.S. and global economies absorb oil shocks
Brief
Economies are less vulnerable now than they were when a similar war in West Asia drove up fuel prices, triggering stagflation in the 1970s; decades of reforms have improved efficiency, cut reliance on West Asian oil, built reserves, and expanded alternative energy, but oil is still king, say experts
The world economy is experiencing a disorienting flashback to the 1970s.
Oil prices are once again surging in the wake of war in West Asia, driving up the cost of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and threatening a return to stagflation — the toxic mix of higher prices and slower growth that made economic life so miserable a half century ago.
