EL PETRÓLEO en el pensamiento de ÚSLAR PIETRI. (Spanish)

Abstract

Arturo Uslar Pietri was the first to posit a scientific foundation for explaining the nature of oil in Venezuelan economic thought. In 1938 he wrote: "Oil is neither a harvest nor a rent, but the ongoing consumption of subsoil capital deposited by nature". According to Uslar all income derives from a renewable source. Hence his use of the term "harvest" to explain the owner's return from planted soil, husbandry, or sowing. Similarly, he terms "rent" income obtained in exchange for work (wages), or from the ownership of productive equipment and tools (profits). Lastly, he postulates that a non-renewable economic resource is by definition natural capital; and revenue generated necessarily equivalent to the value of its consumption. In brief, oil is natural capital, and its revenues amount to the value of barrels extracted. With oil considered as capital, in Uslar's view, investment becomes the only legitimate use for the revenue collected by its owner qua owner, namely, the Venezuelan State. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]