Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/171504 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
Economics Working Paper Series No. 06/61
Publisher: 
ETH Zurich, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research, Zurich
Abstract: 
We critically evaluate the empirical basis for the so-called resource curse and find 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’—endogenous to underlying institutional factors. In multiple estimations that combine resource abundance and dependence, institutional and constitutional variables, we find that (i) resource abundance, constitutions and institutions determine resource dependence, (ii) resource dependence does not affect growth, and (iii) resource abundance positively affects growth and institutional quality.
Subjects: 
Natural resource curse
economic growth
growth regressions
political regimes
institutions
constitutions
JEL: 
O11
O13
Q0
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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