especially during the years 1974–1981 and 2005–2014, oil exporters amassed large surpluses of "petrodollars" from historically expensive oil. (the word has been credited alternately to egyptian-american economist ibrahim oweiss and to former us secretary of commerce peter g. peterson, both in 1973.) these petrodollar surpluses could be described as net us dollar-equivalents earned from the export of petroleum, in excess of the internal development needs of the exporting nations. the surpluses could not be efficiently invested in their own economies, due to small populations or being at early stages of industrialization; but the surpluses could be usefully invested in other nations, or spent on imports such as consumer products, construction supplies, and military equipment. alternatively, global economic growth would have suffered if that money was withdrawn from the world economy, while the oil-exporting nations needed to be able to invest profitably to raise their long-term standards of living.