This paper studies the causal factors that make the oil‐state Venezuela, which is generally characterized by a low level of violence, an outlier among the oil countries as a whole. It applies a newly elaborated “context approach” that systematically considers domestic and international...

Venezuela’s growth experience over the 56-year period from 1950 to 2006 was characterized by a high economic growth rate from 1950 to 1974 and a low economic growth rate from 1974 to 2006. We show that the country has been immersed in a ‘great depression’ since the mid-seventies. We also...

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- List of Abbreviations -- Part One: Introduction -- 1. Accounting for Growth and Decline in Venezuela -- 2. Trends and Cycles in the Venezuelan Economy -- Part Two: A Critical Survey of the "Resource Curse" Literature...