Cursed by Gold or Globalisation? Company Town and Divided Community in Kyrgyzstan

Pengshan Pan

Journal of Development Studies, 2026, vol. 62, issue 7, 1107-1125

Abstract: This paper examines how a substantial resource town contributes to socioeconomic divides within a developing country. Beyond the conventional debate over whether natural resources are a source of ‘curse’, the study highlights the crucial role of local institutions in redistributing resource wealth. Using data from Kyrgyzstan’s national household panel surveys (2010–2016), the study shows that the massive yet unevenly distributed revenue from gold mine Kumtor, which accounted for 12.5 per cent of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP in 2020, divides the mining community from other local residents. The company provides exclusive economic benefits to its workers, with no spill-over to non-mining residents. Company workers at Kumtor also exhibit lower levels of trust in local community authorities, who receive greater support from the non-company population. This divide intensifies as gold prices rise and is observed only within a 100-kilometer radius of Kumtor, not at other smaller domestically or foreign-owned mines.

Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2025.2595052

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