Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/155541 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 6299
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We study whether the spatial distribution of natural resources across different ethnic groups within countries impede spatial inequality, national economic performance, and the incidence of armed conflict. By providing a theoretical rent-seeking model and analysing a set of geocoded data for mines, night-time light emissions, local populations and ethnic homelands, we show that the distribution of resources is a major driving factor of ethnic income inequality and, thus, induces rent-seeking behaviour. Consequently, we extend the perspective of the resource curse to explain cross-country differences in economic performance and the onset of civil conflicts. We show that the inequality in the spatial distribution of resource endowments within countries drives the curse of natural resources, not the resources per se.
Subjects: 
natural resources
minerals
mines
night lights
luminosity
ethnic income inequality
spatial inequality
development
civil war
conflict
JEL: 
D72
D74
Q32
Q34
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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