Mit dem im Jahre 2003 einsetzenden weltwirtschaftlichen Aufschwung und dem Boom der chinesischen Wirtschaft kam es auf den globalen Metallmärkten zu einer überaus starken Belebung der Nachfrage; das im Vergleich dazu knappe Angebot führte zu anhaltenden Spitzenpreisen. Insbesondere der...

While the direct impact of geographic endowments on prosperity is present in all countries, in former colonies, geography has also affected colonization policies and, therefore, institutional outcomes. Using non-colonized countries as a control group, I develop an empirical strategy that...

In this paper we examine the claim that natural resources invite civil conflict, and challenge the main stylized facts in this literature. We find that the nature of causation between resource dependence and civil war is opposite to conventional wisdom. In particular, (i) civil war creates...

This paper argues that the unprecedented acceleration of growth in the developing world in the new millennium in comparison with advanced economies is due not so much to improvements in underlying fundamentals as to exceptionally favourable global economic conditions, shaped mainly by...