ABSTRACT

Throughout 1975 the world has been left in no doubt of the gravity of the economic situation with which it is now faced. Almost daily heads of government, company chairmen, politicians and pundits have indulged in hyperbole verging almost on the masochistic, in their efforts to underline the serious threat which now faces the world. A threat not simply to the international monetary system and the world economy, but to the very fabric of society as a consequence of the fivefold increase in crude oil prices imposed by the major oil producing nations and implemented through the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).