Yes, there are very real human consequences of what transpires in the oil markets. Venezuela is a huge case in point of the dangers of a political system that is tied to oil wealth and what happens when this falls apart. Venezuela was a victim of the last oil glut, and it has still not recovered, even though the price of oil has recovered. Political corruption is rampant where there is enormous mineral wealth, so things get very ugly when that wealth is threatened.
So these issues are part of why I would prefer OPEC to pursue a drill at will approach. The premium on oil is a huge motive for political corruption and makes oil exporting countries dependent on that oil revenue. Indeed, the economic dependency on oil prices is a big part of what transforms oil wealth into real political power, while corruption holds this power in place. So first off let's get rid of the premium in oil price (through competitive market price discovery) so that these oil price dependent countries can have a more diverse economy and more representative governments. And then second, competitive market price discovery should be the best means to avoid boom/bust cycles. It's not perfect, but persistent price distortions only make the severity of these cycles worse. The severity of a market collapse is really what is most devastating to the people living in impacted countries. Simply put the more severe the market collapse, the more severe the impoverishment, starvation, displacement of peoples and death toll from armed conflict will be. So, in my thinking, I want to see that the potential for catastrophic market collapse to be defused as much as possible. The key thing is to avoid overinvestment in oil supply. The oil glut in 2014 was just a wake up call.
