This paper compares two alternative growth paths, assessing the effects on productivity of specialisation in natural resources (NR) and in technologically advanced products. The empirical analysis exploits product-level export data for 109 developing and 51 developed economies over the period...

To study the causal impact of oil royalties on human capital, we exploit quasi-experimental variation arising from a law in Ecuador that transfers resources to municipalities regardless of their oil-producing status. We find that royalties increase the likelihood of students completing primary...

We discuss political economy mechanisms which can explain the resource curse,in which an increase in the size of resource rents causes a decrease in the economy’stotal value added. We identify a number of channels through which resource rentswill alter the incentives of a political leader....

This paper presents a macroeconomic approach to sustainable growth. After clarifying the concept of sustainability, the interdependence between natural resources and accumulated capital stocks such as physical, human, and knowledge capital is discussed. The conditions for the substitution...

In this paper we discuss the influence of using different production functions on modeling the resource extraction rates and economic growth. The focus is set on the modeling of the production sector, which requires either non-renewable resources, renewable resources or a combination of both...

This study aims at unveiling regional development differences in Norway with respect to various natural resource-based activities that take place in the NUTS3 regions. Norway?s natural riches range from agricultural and forest resources to fisheries, mines, petroleum and gas. Considering the...

Industrial policy is back. Advocates for industrial policy argue that the important question is not whether such policies should be applied at all, but how to design and implement them. For the extractive industries this development poses a challenge. First, there is the argument that host...

The exploitation of natural resources is a huge opportunity, but one that carries considerable risks. Relative prices in resource-exporting economies tend to push them towards economic structures dominated by the resource sector. This paper explores ways to achieve diversification in a...

Africa’s interior-to-coast roads are well suited to export natural resources, but not to support regional trade. Are they the optimal response to geography and comparative advantage, or the result of suboptimal political distortions? We investigate the political determinants of road paving in...

This paper reviews the political economy of extractive resources and the associated resources sector governance agenda. The consensus that good sector governance improves the developmental impacts of extractive resources exploitation is premised on the understanding that institutions matter for...