Blog
FIFA and the Gas Connection
2nd December 2010
Sky Sports news was getting as over-excited as a young girl waiting for her first puppy to arrive or a teenage fan standing in line for a Justin Bieber concert but in the end England mustered only two votes! One of them was our own delegate! And the other a FIFA member implicated in the fraud inquiry!
Several economists have been pointing out the two winning bids represent a decisive endorsement by FIFA of the growing importance of gas in the global economy. Russia has the world’s largest reserves of natural gas. And Qatar the 3rd largest reserves of natural gas. Both have been making noises about forming a producer cartel in the years ahead. The second highest reserves belong to Iran and we can confidently predict they will get the 2030 World Cup ....after China in 2026!
I have been enjoying following Faisal Islam’s blog and on Twitter. Faisal is the Economics Correspondent for Channel 4 News. Here is his take on the geo-political meaning of the FIFA decisions this afternoon:
“Today’s World Cup decision will communicate better than any speech or book how power is draining away from the over-indebted West into the oilfields and factories of the East. The UK does not have comparative advantage in offering opaque international sports organisations licenses to print money.” More here
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.