Oil Shocks Past and Present

An excerpt from our First Quarter 2026 Investment Brief:

The global economy has experienced two iconic and highly disruptive oil shocks, the 1973 OPEC oil embargo and the 1979 Iranian revolution. Other, less significant shocks, include the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. So far, the Iran war shock appears less consequential than the 1973 and 1979 crises, which had a major and lasting impact on output and inflation.