OIL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN OPEC COUNTRIES, WITH CASE STUDIES ABOUT IRAQ AND ALGERIA (GROWTH, INDUSTRY, PETROCHEMICAL).

摘要

This dissertation examines the impact of the increase in oil prices in l973 and thereafter on economic development in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in general, and in Iraq and Algeria in particular. It attempts to investigate the extent to which these countries have succeeded in utilizing oil revenues to achieve their projected goals: Diversification of their economies in order to reduce dependence on exporting crude oil which is an exhaustible resource; Acceleration of the rate of growth of the non-oil sector in order to increase its contribution to GDP and foreign exchange earnings as well as to maintain the growth of the economy in the post-oil age.;This study developed various criteria to judge the performance of OPEC economies after 1973, in general, and applied these criteria to two OPEC countries--Iraq and Algeria.;The increased expenditures by OPEC governments, owing to the increase in oil revenues, led to an expansion in social welfare programs, an increase in real per capita income, and more equal access to educational and health services. However, policies adopted also led to some inconvenient results, such as an increase in the rate of inflation, migration of population from rural to urban areas, a decline in agricultural production, and low productivity and inefficiency especially in the industrial sector.;According to the criteria used by this study to judge the performance of the Iraqi and the Algerian economies after 1973, both countries did quite well. However, one of the findings about Iraq is that while the rate of growth of real per capita GDP accelerated after 1973, the rate of growth of real per capita non-oil GDP did not. Algeria succeeded in diversifying her economy, since the rate of growth of non-oil GDP accelerated after l973, compared to the earlier period. But, Algeria borrowed heavily from abroad to finance the industrilization process. The most serious problem facing both countries during the '70s, was the unsatisfactory performance of food production.;While the increase in oil revenues greatly reduced the capital constraint to growth, it did not remove all other constraints at the same time. Thus, bottlenecks in transportation, institutions, skilled labor, raw and construction materials remained important obstacles to anticipated growth.