Old 02-14-06, 07:03 AM
  #13  
matthewyounkins
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Originally Posted by chennai
But if it's "exported", it's exchanged for money that goes into GDP, isn't it?
Yes, but in some industries the oil used per dollar produced is drastically different than other industries. Probably the most drastic example is agriculture. Basically the only non-oil costs are the land and the equipment - and a large cost of the equipment is the energy to smelt the iron, etcetera. The fertilizers and transportation are based on the costs of energy used.

Aluminum production is another good example - most of the costs are energy related.

So if you export agriculture and aluminum, your economy is going to be 'penalized' w.r.t. an economy that imports those items for trade with less energy-intensive products.
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