Title:
The resource curse hype : paradox or red herring?
Authors:
Bulte, E.
Year:
2007
Serial number:
4
Journal:
The Broker
Pages:
19
ISSN:
1874-2033
Language:
eng
Subject:
Economic Development and Trade
Keywords:
economic development
,
natural resources
Abstract:
The empirical basis for the so-called resource curse was evaluated and it was shown that, despite the topic’s popularity in economics and political science research, this apparent paradox is a red herring. The most commonly used measure of ‘resource abundance’ can be more usefully interpreted as a proxy for ‘resource dependence’. In multiple estimations that combine resource abundance and dependence, institutional and constitutional variables, it was found that (i) resource abundance, constitutions and institutions determine resource dependence, (ii) resource dependence does not affect growth, and (iii) there is no evidence that resource-dependent countries end up with slow growth and bad institutions. Rather, countries with bad institutions attract little investment, and as a result they grow more slowly and remain dependent on exports of commodities. But this is not a paradox at all.
Organization:
The Broker
Category:
Research
Right:
© 2007 IDP. This article has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported license.
Document type:
E-article
File:
137932.pdf