IN 1959 geologists discovered 2.8trn cubic metres of natural gas-the largest field in Europe-under the city of Gro-ningen in the Netherlands. Cheap gas and free-spending energy firms were thought to be good news for the entire Dutch economy. But higher gas-export prices in the 1970s raised the value of the guilder by a sixth, hitting the competitiveness of Dutch manufacturing and services. In 1977 The Economist dubbed this economic curse "Dutch disease".
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