Oil curse

In 1985-1986, world oil prices fell several times. And yet, the USSR collapsed not because of bearishness in the oil market.

Bulat Okudzhava said this well at his last concert in Paris on June 23, 1995. He then read this short poem:

“Universal experience says,

That kingdoms are perishing

Not because life is difficult

Or terrible ordeals...

And they die because

And the more painful it is, the longer it takes,

That the people of their kingdom

No more respect..."

However, the crisis of the Soviet economy, which led to the collapse of the USSR, when and in what forms it unfolded, was closely related to the developments in the oil market. So - why did it happen the way it did?

Of course, the first thing that came out was conspiracy theories about what happened. However, I saw with my own eyes what an incredible “surprise” the collapse of the Soviet Union was for the American authorities, what a shock they were, and therefore I do not believe in the reliability of such constructions.

But if we assume that the version of “intention” is correct, then it turns out even worse. Then we will have to talk about the low intellectual level, irresponsibility and betrayal of national interests on the part of several generations of Soviet authorities, who made the economy and fate of the country completely dependent on the decisions made by the United States, a state that was perceived as the main potential enemy.

The USSR was not the first and was not the only resource-rich country to face a severe crisis associated with difficult-to-predict changes in the prices of the most important raw materials they offered.

To understand what happened in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it is important to analyze the essence of the problems associated with fluctuations in commodity prices and how they affect the economies of exporting countries. And this is quite a long story...