Data on energy and mineral reserves suggest that natural resource abundance has not been a significant structural determinant of economic growth between 1970 and 1989. The story behind the effect of natural resources on economic growth is a complex one that typical growth regressions do not...

This paper collects most recent developments in the emerging economic sub-area Economics of Religion. According to secularization thesis, the importance of beliefs and religious activities should weaken as education, scientific knowledge and economic welfare increases. That hypothesis has been...

Using a sample of fisheries managed under the Magnuson Act, a probit model of the probability of property rights adoption is estimated. The probability of adoption increases as ex–vessel revenue increases and as proxies for transaction costs decrease.

The purpose of this paper is to model the interaction between the targets of the current CAP: environmental adaptation, subsidies and efficiency the of animal farming. To this end we first have to identify the production frontier and relative efficiency level for each animal oriented type of...

We investigate the causes of civil war, using a new data set of wars during 1960-99. We test a `greed’ theory focusing on the ability to finance rebellion, against a`grievance’ theory focusing on ethnic and religious divisions, political repression and inequality. We find that greed...

Countries rich in natural resources constitute both growth losers and growth winners. We claim that the main reason for these diverging experiences is differences in the quality of institutions. More natural resources push aggregate income down, when institutions are grabber friendly, while more...