{"word_count": 136, "character_count": 909}
Historical Oil Shocks / James D. Hamilton. NBER, February 2011 (Working Paper No. 16790)http://papers.nber.org/papers/w16790This paper surveys the history of the oil industry with a particular  focus on the events associated with significant changes in the price of  oil.  Although oil was used much differently and was substantially less  important economically in the nineteenth century than it is today, there  are interesting parallels between events in that era and more recent  developments.  Key post-World-War-II oil shocks reviewed include the  Suez Crisis of 1956-57, the OPEC oil embargo of 1973-1974, the Iranian  revolution of 1978-1979, the Iran-Iraq War initiated in 1980, the first  Persian Gulf War in 1990-91, and the oil price spike of 2007-2008.   Other more minor disturbances are also discussed, as are the economic  downturns that followed each of the major postwar oil shocks. (© NBER)