This paper evaluates the impact of major natural resource discoveries since 1950 on GDP per capita and other economic and social indicators. Using panel fixed-effects estimation ad resource discoveries in countries that were not previously resource-rich, I find a positive effect on GDP per...

In the context of falls in extractive commodities prices since 2011, this paper examines the history of thinking about the interplay between extractives and economic development. Just as 'the resource curse' fails as a generic explanation on account of the huge diversity in country contexts, so...