ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book concentrates on three aspects of the subject of North Sea oil and gas and their relationship to the economy as a whole. First, it considers oil and gas resources as a problem of resource management. Second, it looks at the effect of the development of these resources on the industrial sector of the economy. Third, it analyses the links between oil and general economic policy. A rational depletion policy requires decisions on how much of the benefits should be consumed currently and how much saved for the future. The sharp decline in manufacturing output in 1980/82 was mainly a result of deliberately restrictive economic policies. The book argues that economic policy should not be directly linked to the North Sea sector but that it should be determined along macroeconomic lines within the resource constraints which are imposed on the economy.
