In this paper, we analyse the role of structural transformation in view of the remarkable growth performance of sub-Saharan African countries since the mid-1990s. Our analysis covers 41 African countries over the period 1980 to 2014 and accounts for structural transformation by employing the...

Since Sachs and Warner's (1995a) contribution, there has been a lively debate on the so-called natural resource curse. This paper re-examines the effects of natural resource abundance on economic growth using new measures of resource endowment and considering the role of institutional quality....

We critically evaluate the empirical basis for the so-called resource curse and find that, despite the topic’s popularity in economics and political science research, this apparent paradox is a red herring. The most commonly used measure of ‘resource abundance’ can be more usefully...

We analyse growth dynamics in an economy where the well-being of economic agents depends on three goods: leisure, a free access environmental good and a private good which can be produced by each agent through his own labour input. The private good can be consumed as a substitute for the...

This research argues that variations in the interplay between cultural assimilation and cultural diffusion have played a significant role in giving rise to differential patterns of economic development across the globe. Societies that were geographically less vulnerable to cultural diffusion,...

This study provides an analysis of the aid-private capital flows-growth nexus for Ghana. It is premised on the argument that Ghana's new status as a middle income country plus the start of oil production is bound to result in a reduction in ODA inflows in the long term. However in the short to...

The hypothesis of the natural resource curse has captivated the economics profession, and since the mid-1990s has generated a large body of policymaking initiatives aimed at dispelling the curse. In this paper, we evaluate how the effect of resource abundance on economic growth has changed since...

This research argues that variations in the interplay between cultural assimilation and cultural diffusion have played a significant role in giving rise to differential patterns of economic development across the globe. Societies that were geographically less vulnerable to cultural diffusion...

We assess quantitatively the effect of exogenous health improvements on output per capita. Our simulation model allows for a direct effect of health on worker productivity, as well as indirect effects that run through schooling, the size and age-structure of the population, capital accumulation,...

This research argues that variations in the interplay between cultural assimilation and cultural diffusion have played a significant role in giving rise to differential patterns of economic development across the globe. Societies that were geographically less vulnerable to cultural diffusion...