The paper estimates the effect of oil price

uctuations on GDP growth,

using linear and nonlinear VAR models with data from 12 countries. It

reports strong significance for the existence of non-linear moderator effects

caused by a decline in the oil-to-energy share, which weakens the causal

effect of oil prices on economic growth. A consideration of the relationship

of oil prices and GDP over 44 years confirms the exclusion of symmetry of

previous studies. Moreover, the paper indicates that the effect of negative

oil price movements is causal for more countries than has been suggested so

far.