Comparison of Economic Policies to Counter Oil Price Increasing in the United Kingdom during the 1970s Oil Shocks and the 2022 Energy Crisis

This bachelor‘s thesis examines economic policies following the oil shocks of the 1970s and the 2022 energy crisis triggered by the embargo on Russian gas in the United Kingdom. The aim is to compare these policies and then to consider whether the post-oil shocks policies are applicable to the 2022 energy crisis. The theoretical section discusses economic phenomena used in this work (oil prices, regulation and negative supply shocks). Then it focuses on the historical background of oil shocks and the policies that were implemented to tame the effects of these shocks. The practical section contains analyses of different periods which are the subjects of this work and a closer look on the effects of the policies on the recovery of the United Kingdom’s economy. The final part is the actual comparison of past and current policies and an analysis whether past policies would have helped the UK economy to recover in 2022 or in the following years. Possible policies that have had a rather positive impact on the recovery of the UK economy during the oil shocks are investment in the acquisition of its own energy resources, especially oil and gas, and the privatization of state-owned enterprises. Both policies have been used to some extent over the last fifteen years. Investment in resource acquisition has already been expanded as part of the government's programme to tackle the energy crisis. This paper has also discovered the potential positive impact of state-owned enterprises privatizations in the context of the 2022 energy crisis.