Currently, evidence on the ‘resource curse’ yields a conundrum. While there is much crosssection evidence to support the curse hypothesis, time series analyses using vector autoregressive (VAR) models have found that commodity booms raise the growth of commodity exporters. This paper adopts...

In this paper we investigate how a wide array of types of shock arising from world prices, natural events, and political violence affect growth. Our results suggest that the impact from political shocks are far greater than from natural shocks. However, our preliminary cointegration results...

Currently, evidence on the ‘resource curse’ yields a conundrum. While there is much crosssection evidence to support the curse hypothesis, time series analyses using vector autoregressive (VAR) models have found that commodity booms raise the growth ofcommodity exporters. This paper adopts...

This paper investigates the role of aid in mitigating the adverse effects of commodity export price shocks on growth in commodity-dependent countries. Using a large cross-country dataset, we find that negative shocks matter for short-term growth, while the ex ante risk of shocks does not seem to...

In this paper, we estimate the costs of state failure, both for the failing state itself and for its neighbours. In our analysis, the cost of failure arises from two distinct sources: organized violence due to the incapacity of the state to ensure its own citizens’ security and low quality of...

The current commodity boom is a major opportunity for poor countries exportingexhaustible resources such as oil. In the past oil booms were often mismanaged leaving the country with lower long run income. Many countries are now well aware that booms require intricate savings and investment...

The paper considers the macroeconomic impact of shocks to agricultural output and of negative and positive price shocks. It is shown that negative price shocks have particularly large externalities: it is estimated that the overall impact of these negative shocks on GDP may well be double their...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relations between perceived business uncertainty (PBU), use of external risk management (RM) consultants, formalisation of RM, magnitude of RM methods and perceived organisational outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is...

This article re-examines the selection process in the context of a sample of applicants to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University in 1978. We have observed that a stable equation can be estimated that correctly classifies a high proportion of candidates between accepted and...

The World Bank Development Report (World Bank, 1989) provides an excellent synthesis of current wisdom about the relationship between financial systems and economic development. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the proposals presented in that Report. The Report addresses four sets of...