We study the incentives of selfish governments to tax tradable primary inputs under asymmetric trade. Using an empirically-consistent model of endogenous growth, we obtain explicit links between persistent gaps in productivity growth and the observed tendency of resource-exporting (importing)...

This paper analyses the connection between resource wealth, governance and economic performance in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Since independence, both countries have remained heavily resource-dependent and they have had political stability, but despite some similarities, their economic...

"For many countries, primarily in the Global South, extractivism - the exploiting and exporting of natural resources - is big business. For those exporting countries, natural resource rents create hope and promise for development which can be a seductive force. This book explores the depth of...