This study explains the emergence of the Sicilian mafia in the XIX century as the product of the interaction between natural resource abundance and weak institutions. We advance the hypothesis that the mafia emerged after the collapse of the Bourbon Kingdom in a context characterized by a severe...

This paper examines the role of corruption in the relationship between natural resources and exports diversifi­ cation 1980-2020) through the bound test of co-integration and the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS). The main findings reveal that, natural resource accentuates export...

A model of resource exploitation when private ownership requires costly enforcement is developed. Enforcement costs are endogenized as the outcome of a game between a resource owner and illegal extractors. I find that two instruments are used to deter illegal extraction: policing efforts and...

This paper proposes a model of natural-resource exploitation when private ownership requires costly enforcement activities. Enforcement costs are endogenized as the outcome of a game between the owner of a resource and encroachers. In equilibrium, the analysis suggests that in order to deter...

Resource curse theory claims that resource abundance encourages violent conflict. A study of 37 oil-producing developing countries, however, reveals that oil states with very high levels of oil revenue are remarkably stable. An analysis of the ways in which governments spend oil revenues...