Escaping the Resource Curse

Escaping the Resource Curse

Author: Macartan Humphreys

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2007-05-22

Total Pages: 429

ISBN-13: 0231512104

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The wealth derived from natural resources can have a tremendous impact on the economics and politics of producing countries. In the last quarter century, we have seen the surprising and sobering consequences of this wealth, producing what is now known as the "resource curse." Countries with large endowments of natural resources, such as oil and gas, often do worse than their poorer neighbors. Their resource wealth frequently leads to lower growth rates, greater volatility, more corruption, and, in extreme cases, devastating civil wars. In this volume, leading economists, lawyers, and political scientists address the fundamental channels generated by this wealth and examine the major decisions a country must make when faced with an abundance of a natural resource. They identify such problems as asymmetric bargaining power, limited access to information, the failure to engage in long-term planning, weak institutional structures, and missing mechanisms of accountability. They also provide a series of solutions, including recommendations for contracting with oil companies and allocating revenue; guidelines for negotiators; models for optimal auctions; and strategies to strengthen state-society linkages and public accountability. The contributors show that solutions to the resource curse do exist; yet, institutional innovations are necessary to align the incentives of key domestic and international actors, and this requires fundamental political changes and much greater levels of transparency than currently exist. It is becoming increasingly clear that past policies have not provided the benefits they promised. Escaping the Resource Curse lays out a path for radically improving the management of the world's natural resources.


Escaping the Resource Curse

Escaping the Resource Curse

Author: Kristen A. Harkness

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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The paradox of the resource curse is a pressing concern for many of the worlds poorest states. If natural resource abundance, in and of itself, leads to negative economic and political outcomes, then the future looks grim indeed for much of the world. Yet, the oft-cited correlation between natural resources and poor development rests upon troubled empirical foundations. The measure commonly used to capture resource abundance is a complex construction prone to generating spurious results. This paper thus seeks to contribute to our understanding of the resource curse by turning to a new data context where precise and easily interpretable measures for natural resource abundance, production, and rents can be constructed: Kentucky coal counties. Four central hypotheses of the resource curse literature are analyzed: (1) that resource abundance retards growth, that resource rents lead to (2) under-taxation by the government and (3) the diversion of funds away from the provision of public goods, and (4) that resource abundance and/or rents increase corruption. The results encourage hope on the political level while simultaneously suggesting a more intractable economic dilemma. Coal counties do suffer from lower long-term growth rates. Moreover, the evidence suggests that this effect has little to do with typical, more "fixable," macroeconomic explanations and more to do with the underlying geology of the land or with the nature of resource production processes. Mines inevitably shut down as they exhaust accessible supplies and extraction moves to a new location. Where the land is unsuitable for alternative productive activity, the local economy may simply collapse, leaving no stable base for growth. On the other hand, there is little evidence to support the theoretical mechanisms linking natural resources to poor governance: Kentucky counties benefiting from coal rents not only tax their publics at higher rates, but they also spend more per student on education and are no more vulnerable to corruption than other counties.


The Oxford Handbook of Sovereign Wealth Funds

The Oxford Handbook of Sovereign Wealth Funds

Author: Douglas Cumming

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 737

ISBN-13: 0198754809

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Sovereign Wealth Funds have become increasingly powerful and influential investors. Their increasing role, and unusual character as both political and market actors, raise a number of issues with regard to finance, politics, regulation, and international business. This handbook draws together the growing but fragmented research on SWFs.


The Oxford Handbook of the Politics of Development

The Oxford Handbook of the Politics of Development

Author: Carol Lancaster

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 753

ISBN-13: 0199845158

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Modernization theory : does economic development cause democratization? / Jose Antonio Cheibub and James Raymond Vreeland -- Dependency theory / James Mahoney and Diana Rodriguez-Franco -- Structuralism / Elliott Green -- Political development / Robert H. Bates -- The Washington Consensus and the new political economy of economic reform / Kevin Morrison -- Penury traps and prosperity tales : why some countries escape poverty while others do not / M. Steven Fish -- Culture, politics and development / Michael Woolcock -- Religion, politics and economic development : synergies and disconnects / Katherine Marshall -- Does inequality harm economic development and democracy? : accounting for missing values, noncomparable observations, and endogeneity / Christian Houle -- Ethnicity and development / Nic Cheeseman -- Civil conflict and development / Håvard Hegre -- The politics of the resource curse : a review / Michael L. Ross -- Taxation and development / Mick Moore -- How do governments build capabilities to do great things? : ten cases, two competing explanations, one large research agenda / Matt Andrews -- Leadership and the politics of development / Adrian Leftwich and Heather Lyne De Ver -- Colonialism and development in africa / Leander Heldring and James A. Robinson -- Investment and debt / Layna Mosley -- The role of the state in harnessing trade-and-investment for development purposes / Theodore H. Moran -- International financial institutions and market liberalization in the developing world / Stephen C. Nelson -- Foreign aid and democratization in developing countries / Danielle Resnick -- Organizing for prosperity : collective action, political parties, and the political economy of development / Philip Keefer -- Missing links in the institutional chain / Anirudh Krishna -- The comparative politics of service delivery in developing countries / Evan S. Lieberman -- Party systems and the politics of development / Allen Hicken -- Populism and political representation / Kenneth M. Roberts -- Africa's political economy in the contemporary era / Peter M. Lewis -- The politics of development in Latin America and East Asia / James W. McGuire -- Development and underdevelopment in the Middle East and North Africa / Melani Cammett -- Rethinking the institutional foundations of china's hypergrowth : official incentives, institutional constraints, and local developmentalism / Fubing Su, Ran Tao, and Dali L. Yang -- The politics of growth in South Korea : miracle, crisis, and the new market economy / Stephan Haggard and Myung-Koo Kang


Natural Resources, Neither Curse nor Destiny

Natural Resources, Neither Curse nor Destiny

Author: Daniel Lederman

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2006-10-23

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 0821365460

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'Natural Resources: Neither Course nor Destiny' brings together a variety of analytical perspectives, ranging from econometric analyses of economic growth to historical studies of successful development experiences in countries with abundant natural resources. The evidence suggests that natural resources are neither a curse nor destiny. Natural resources can actually spur economic development when combined with the accumulation of knowledge for economic innovation. Furthermore, natural resource abundance need not be the only determinant of the structure of trade in developing countries. In fact, the accumulation of knowledge, infrastructure, and the quality of governance all seem to determine not only what countries produce and export, but also how firms and workers produce any good.


Oil to Cash

Oil to Cash

Author: Todd Moss

Publisher: CGD Books

Published: 2015-06-10

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1933286695

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Oil to Cash explores one option to help countries with new oil revenue avoid the so-called resource curse: just give the money directly to citizens. A universal, transparent, and regular cash transfer would not only provide a concrete benefit to regular people, but would also create powerful incentives for citizens to hold their government accountable. Oil to Cash details how and where this idea could work and how policymakers can learn from the experiences with cash transfers in places like Mexico, Mongolia, and Alaska.


Corruption, Natural Resources and Development

Corruption, Natural Resources and Development

Author: Aled Williams

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2017-01-27

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1785361201

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This book provides a fresh and extensive discussion of corruption issues in natural resources sectors. Reflecting on recent debates in corruption research and revisiting resource curse challenges in light of political ecology approaches, this volume provides a series of nuanced and policy-relevant case studies analyzing patterns of corruption around natural resources and options to reach anti-corruption goals. The potential for new variations of the resource curse in the forest and urban land sectors and the effectiveness of anti-corruption policies in resource sectors are considered in depth. Corruption in oil, gas, mining, fisheries, biofuel, wildlife, forestry and urban land are all covered, and potential solutions discussed.