How the petrodollar took over the world

The shockwaves triggered by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran have made clear the extent to which the global economy relies on oil, and the U.S. dollar. It’s no accident. So today we are going to try and understand how and why the U.S. and Saudi Arabia created this system, and how severely it’s being tested by this war. David Wight is our guest. He’s a lecturer at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and the author of Oil Money: Middle East Petrodollars and the Transformation of U.S. Empire, 1967–1988. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:

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How the petrodollar took over the world is an episode from Front Burner by CBC.

This episode is 00:27:08 long.

This episode was published on Apr 30, 2026.

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