This paper examines the effect of oil abundance on political violence. First, we revisit one of the main empirical findings of the civil conflict literature that oil abundance causes civil war. Using a unique panel dataset describing worldwide oil discoveries and extractions, we show that simply...

In 2005, Chad became the latest arrival to the booming ranks of African oil producers. Two years later, it had exported crude oil worth nearly $2 billion and its remaining reserves were worth well in excess of $110 billion. These are truly staggering figures for a country that has been mired in...