The Oil Economy of Venezuela

Presenter(s): Emily Kraschel

Faculty Mentor(s): Matthias Vogel

Poster 188

Session: Global Engagement ARC

This project explores Venezuela’s oil based economy and how that exacerbates employment and poverty issues. In Venezuela, there have been many issues regarding trade, poverty, and hunger. Within Venezuela there is a high rate of poverty, with much of the population being under the poverty line. The economy relies almost fully on oil, lending itself easily to monopolization, which creates more poverty among working folks. The oil economy has an effect on the country as a whole. News sources and books on the structure of the Venezuelan economy were particularly useful in researching this topic. The high rates of poverty and suffering among the Venezuelan people is due to the unitary reliance of the Venezuelan economy on oil and the high level of political unrest and corruption. We find the Venezuelan situation particularly jarring because the path the Venezuelan economy and government took in the 20th century bears a striking resemblance to the path many Western economies are taking today, presenting reasonable fear that other prominent countries may fall victim to the same negative effects.