Reducing energy vulnerability

Energy is a strategic resource that has justified as well as influenced the outcomes of wars, fueled as well as strangled economic progress, polluted as well as cleaned up the environment. This paper sheds empirical light on the ideological battleground over energy security policy. Using international data, the paper demonstrates how countries have made distinctive choices affecting the importance of energy as a determinant of economic growth. This paper puts the current debate over oil imports in historical context, considers the relative merits of supply-side and demand-side solutions, and proposes a policy synthesis.