America, oil shocks and the crisis of the 1970s

In this episode, we dive into the turbulent decade of the 1970s, exploring how the oil shocks and economic crises of the era shattered the postwar order in America. Drawing from historian Gary Gerstle’s influential work The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Era, we examine how stagflation, energy insecurity, and geopolitical tensions fueled public disillusionment with Keynesian economics and paved the way for a neoliberal revolution.

In This Episode:

• The 1973 and 1979 oil shocks and their devastating economic ripple effects
• Stagflation: why rising prices and stagnant growth confounded policymakers
• The decline of faith in government economic management
• How energy crises exposed vulnerabilities in American global power
• The ideological groundwork for the rise of neoliberal leaders like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher
• Gerstle’s perspective on how these transformations reshaped the political and economic landscape for decades to come

About the Book:

Gary Gerstle’s The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Era offers a sweeping history of how neoliberalism rose to dominance in the late 20th century and why its influence may now be waning. The book connects domestic crises like the 1970s oil shocks to larger ideological shifts in American and global politics.

Further Reading:

• Gerstle, Gary. The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Era.
• Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
• Meg Jacobs, Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis and the Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s

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