World oil prices and O.E.C.D. trade balance

This paper develops a theoretical model which postulates that while the drop in oil prices during the 1980s has benefitted O.E.C.D. countries in a way not unlike a favorable productivity shock, the concomitant shift in oil market share from Arab or cartel core petroleum exporting countries to non-Arab or non-cartel core petroleum exporting countries, has provided less benefits to the O.E.C.D. countries than has hitherto been acknowledged. The econometric analysis lends support to the model.