The "Venezuela Effect": The Blueprint of What Not to Do Every crisis leaves wounds but also creates opportunities. One can choose whether or not to capitalize on that crisis. If one does, the approach can vary: avoiding the repetition of past errors to prevent a recurrence; repeating those mistakes and reliving the crisis later; or leveraging the experience and lessons learned to transform the situation into an opportunity. The goal is to gain a comparative advantage that leaves us far better off than we were before the crisis—and, of course, to ensure a wide margin of safety against falling back into a crisis state. Ultimately, there are three options: bad or worse; the same or better; or even excellent. The Norwegians saw this clearly and took heed of the warning signs. Upon discovering oil reserves, rather than celebrating, they calmly chose to study the situation. They commissioned academic research and expert analyses to determine how best to capitalize on this fortuitou...