The authors wish to thank the World Bank for financial support and accesses to information sources. For many helpful comments and suggestions, the authors are also grateful to Nicholas Treich and other conferees at the European Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis first annual meeting at the...

"The authors use a sample of 133 countries to investigate the link between the abundance of natural resources and micro-economic reforms. Previous studies suggest that natural resource abundance gives rise to governments that are less accountable to the public and states that are oligarchic, and...