Why Do Some Oil-Producing Countries Succeed in Democracy While Others Fail?

Luc Omgba

World Development, 2015, vol. 76, issue C, 180-189

Abstract: Empirical studies examining the effect of oil on democracy have shown contradictory results. This paper offers an explanation. In measuring the number of years between the beginning of oil production and the attainment of political independence in oil-producing countries, we found that the greater the number of years, the higher the level of democracy ceteris paribus. The types of resources exploited in the colonial period were shown to have influenced institutions’ nature and the formation of elite, which acts to prevent subsequent political reforms. This pattern is mitigated in countries that started producing oil far away from their independence.

Keywords: oil resources; economic history; democracy; economic development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15001643
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Why do some oil-producing countries succeed in democracy while others fail? (2015)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:76:y:2015:i:c:p:180-189

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.07.005

Access Statistics for this article

World Development is currently edited by O. T. Coomes

More articles in World Development from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().