Understanding the implications of the boom-bust cycle of global copper prices for natural resources, structural change, and industrial development in Zambia

Robert Liebenthal and Caesar Cheelo

No wp-2018-166, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: This paper is about understanding the cycle of global copper price booms and busts over Zambia's economic history. We explore how the mining industry has been managed, and wider economic management during boom periods. We find that successive Zambian governments did not use copper revenues to accumulate productive assets, focusing instead on financing consumption subsidies and sustaining inefficient state-owned companies. In recent times, Zambia has accumulated worryingly high levels of sovereign debt with virtually no prospect of official debt relief.

Keywords: Copper; Economic management; Fiscal; Mining; Boom; Bust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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