Despite a growing literature on the natural resource curse, existing studies are sparse on how real effective exchange rate, political stability and corruption shape the relationship between natural resources and tourism revenues. This study analyses both the direct and indirect effects of...

Among ENP countries, Azerbaijan is outstanding because it leans on its resource base and sees the EU at the receiving end of bilateral relations. At the other extreme, Ukraine depends on EU cooperation, especially with respect to trade. We develop a comprehensive theoretical concept for...

Thomas Friedman’s First Law of Petropolitics has acquired wide circulation and acceptance without being subjected to proper scrutiny. His claim that, in oil-rich, less-developed countries, there is an inverse correlation between the price of oil and the level of freedom is false. Friedman...

In this paper we examine the claim that natural resources invite civil conflict, and challenge the main stylized facts in this literature. We find that the nature of causation between resource dependence and civil war is opposite to conventional wisdom. In particular, (i) civil war creates...

We use new data to examine the effects of giant oilfield discoveries around the world since 1946. On average, these discoveries increase per capita oil production and oil exports by up to 50 percent. But these giant oilfield discoveries also have a dark side: they increase the incidence of...

This article examines the context and impact of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI). I hyppothesize that EITI is not as effective as it could be because the governments, firms, and NGOs involved in EITI have very different visions of EITI. In EITI, firms are supposed to...

This paper explains the lack of democratization in resource exporting countries using a two period resource extraction model. There are two classes of agents: elite who own capital and natural resources and citizens who own labor. The elite announce, in the rst period, their plans for resource...

In this paper we examine the claim that natural resources invite civil conflict, and challenge the main stylized facts in this literature. We find that the conventional measure of resource dependence is endogenous with respect to conflict, and that instrumenting for dependence implies that it is...

Several scholars have argued that abundant natural resources can be harmful to economic performance under bad institutions and helpful when institutions are good. These arguments have either been theoretical or based on naturally-occurring variation in natural resource wealth. We test this...

There is an adage about wealth and democracy that says “the more well-to-do a nation, the greater the chances it will sustain democracy.” Accordingly, one would expect that nations rich in natural resources, and particularly those with large deposits of oil – a clear absolute advantage –...