The Natural Resource Curse
Subtitle: a survey
By: Jeffrey A. Frankel
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 15836; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 15836.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "It is striking how often countries with oil or other natural resource wealth have failed to grow more rapidly than those without.  This is the phenomenon known as the Natural Resource Curse.  The principle has been borne out in some econometric tests of the determinants of economic performance across a comprehensive sample of countries.  This paper considers six aspects of commodity wealth, each of interest in its own right, but each also a channel that some have suggested could lead to sub-standard economic performance.  They are: long-term trends in world commodity prices, volatility, crowding out of manufacturing, civil war, poor institutions, and the Dutch Disease.  Skeptics have questioned the Natural Resource Curse, pointing to examples of commodity-exporting countries that have done well and arguing that resource endowments and booms are not exogenous.  The paper concludes with a consideration of institutions and policies that some commodity-producers have tried, in efforts to overcome the pitfalls of the Curse.  Ideas include indexation of oil contracts, hedging of export proceeds, denomination of debt in terms of oil, Chile-style fiscal rules, a monetary target that emphasizes product prices, transparent commodity funds, and lump-sum distribution"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 4/6/2010.

Includes bibliographical references.

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