Disaggregating the Resource Curse: Is the Curse More Difficult to Dispel in Oil States than in Mineral States?

Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 641

30 Pages Posted: 15 Dec 2010

See all articles by Timothy Azarchs

Timothy Azarchs

Bard College

Tamar Khitarishvili

Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute

Date Written: December 14, 2010

Abstract

The hypothesis of the natural resource curse has captivated the economics profession, and since the mid-1990s has generated a large body of policymaking initiatives aimed at dispelling the curse. In this paper, we evaluate how the effect of resource abundance on economic growth has changed since these policies were first introduced by comparing the periods 1970-1989 and 1996-2008. We disaggregate resources into oil, gas, coal, and nonfuel mineral resources, and find that disaggregation unmasks diverse effects of resources on concurrent economic and institutional outcomes, as well as on the ability of countries to transform their economic and institutional infrastructure. We consider resource dependence and institutional quality as two channels linking resource abundance to economic growth in the context of an instrumental variables (IV) model. In addition to exploring these channels, the IV framework enables us to test for the endogeneity of the measures of resource dependence and institutional quality in the growth regressions, paying particular attention to the weakness of the instruments.

Keywords: Resource Curse, Resource Stocks, Resource Dependence, Rule of Law, Institutions, Economic Growth, Growth Regressions, Instrumental Variables

JEL Classification: 011, 013, O4, Q3

Suggested Citation

Azarchs, Timothy and Khitarishvili, Tamar, Disaggregating the Resource Curse: Is the Curse More Difficult to Dispel in Oil States than in Mineral States? (December 14, 2010). Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 641, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1725479 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1725479

Timothy Azarchs (Contact Author)

Bard College ( email )

Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
United States

Tamar Khitarishvili

Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute ( email )

Blithewood
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
United States

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