Natural Resources Curse in the Long Run? Bolivia, Chile and Peru in the Nordic Countries’ Mirror

Cristián Ducoing, José Peres-Cajías, Marc Badia-Miró (), Ann-Kristin Bergquist, Carlos Contreras, Kristin Ranestad and Sara Torregrosa-Hetland
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Ann-Kristin Bergquist: Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Kristin Ranestad: Department of Economic History, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-25

Abstract: The new estimates of the Maddison Project show that GDP per capita ratio at purchasing power parity (ppp) between Bolivia and Finland has changed from 0.68 ca. 1850 to 0.16 in 2015; similarly, that between Chile and Norway from 0.65 to 0.28. The aim of this article is to present a review of the literature and available quantitative evidence to understand how these extreme differences became possible between countries with similarly enormous natural resource endowments. Specifically, the article seeks to: (a) identify some stylized facts that may help understand the divergence between Andean and Nordic countries; (b) identify key historical processes that explain the divergent effect of natural resource abundance in Andean and Nordic economies. In order to achieve these objectives, four topics are covered: GDPpc, population, trade and taxation. The analysis comprises three Nordic countries (Finland, Norway and Sweden) and three Andean countries (Bolivia, Chile and Peru) from the mid-Nineteenth Century to present day. The sample size, time span covered and thematic approach provide new evidence regarding previous work.

Keywords: natural resources; economic development; long-term economic growth; Latin America; Scandinavia; trade; commodities; human capital; knowledge; taxation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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