The social development effects of primary commodity export dependence

Fabrizio Carmignani () and Desire Avom

Ecological Economics, 2010, vol. 70, issue 2, 317-330

Abstract: On the question of whether natural resources are a curse for growth, the jury is still out. While waiting for a decision, we study whether resource intensity has any effect on social development over and above the effect it might have on income or growth. We measure social development by a combination of health and education outcomes and resource intensity by the share of primary commodities in total merchandise exports. We find that, after controlling for per-capita income and other macroeconomic and institutional factors, a higher dependence on primary commodity exports is negative for social development. The transmission mechanism seems to operate via income inequality and macroeconomic volatility.

Keywords: Social; development; Natural; resources; Primary; commodities; Inequality; Volatility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (54)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2010:i:2:p:317-330

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