Growth prospects of oil and gas abundant economies: the Nigerian experience (1970‐2000)

Musa Jega Ibrahim

Journal of Economic Studies, 2008, vol. 35, issue 2, 170-190

Abstract: Purpose - This paper seeks to explore the factors behind the slow growth of economies with abundant oil and gas resources, despite the opportunities these resources potentially represent. Design/methodology/approach - The building blocks of standard economic growth models and the implication of natural resource utilisation is the methodological and analytical approach adopted. A qualitative analysis of the impact of oil and gas activities on the growth of the Nigerian economy is carried out using relevant macroeconomic indicators. Findings - The oil and gas sector is imbued with enormous linkage potentials that can stimulate other sectors to generate endogenous growth. Emphasis on the extraction and export of oil and gas subverts technological progress, stifles the revenue earning potential of the economy and stultifies the effectiveness of factors of production, thereby retarding economic growth. Research limitations/implications - Data on technological input into oil and gas activities could not be obtained, but the changing pattern of productive capacity, especially in the downstream sub‐sector, is used as a measure of technological change. Practical implications - Oil‐ and gas‐abundant economies can exploit potential comparative advantage by creating favourable conditions in value‐adding oil and gas activities. Through spill‐over effects a wide range of economic activities evolves, with concomitant market expansions. Positive externalities for learning‐by‐doing arising from this process can lead to endogenous technological progress to drive sustainable economic growth. Originality/value - The findings show that rather than reliance on foreign exchange revenues from oil and gas, creating the appropriate conditions for the effective domestic utilisation of oil and gas resources to bolster inter‐sectoral linkages is a more virile strategy for oil‐and‐gas driven economic growth.

Keywords: Economic growth; Oil industry; Gas industry; Value added; Nigeria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
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:eme:jespps:v:35:y:2008:i:2:p:170-190

DOI: 10.1108/01443580810870155

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Studies is currently edited by Prof Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee

More articles in Journal of Economic Studies from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().