Text 4
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return Since OPEC agreed to supply - cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $ 26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This near - tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979 -80, when they also almost tri- pled. Both previous shocks resulted in double - digit inflation and global economic decline. So there are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time
The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil experts. Strengthening economic growth, al the’ same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short Item.
Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the
A. oil-price shocks are less shocking now
B. inflation seems irrelevant to oil -price shocks
C. energy conservation can keep down the oil prices
D. the price rise of crude leads to the shrinking of heavy industry
我来回答: