| Summary/Abstract |
Oil anxieties usually stem from fears about running out of oil, but the true oil scourge of the past is overabundance. Oilmen conceal their oil in order to maintain profits and manipulate their monopoly on oil so that they may wield political power. To keep the price of oil high enough to sustain the industry, oil authorities have developed methods of producing scarcity. The results of making oil scarce have been harmful to society economically, politically, and socioculturally. Since current forms of alternative energy are naturally scarce, this article evaluates whether the effects of the oil curse arise from scarcity itself or from the production of scarcity. The destructive experiences with produced oil scarcity inform prospects for a future with alternative energy, including how these energy forms can be developed in ways that avoid the associated effects of the "oil curse."
|