Discussion of The Economic Consequences of Oil Shocks: Differences across Countries and Time

This paper is one in a set of related papers recently put forward by Gert Peersman, in conjunction with the co-authors of this paper, Christiane Baumeister and Ine Van Robays. This body of work commendably attempts to more thoroughly explore the empirical linkages between oil price fluctuations and real economic outcomes for a variety of countries, in the hope of drawing together some general results about the impact of shocks to oil prices on the economy. Such generalisations are undoubtedly important for policy-makers. If it is possible to assess the expected response of an economy to a shock to oil prices based on the structure of the economy, then it will become somewhat easier to advocate appropriate policy responses.