Addressing the Natural Resource Curse: An Illustration From Nigeria

Arvind Subramanian and Xavier Sala-i-Martin

No 2003/139, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Some natural resources-oil and minerals in particular-exert a negative and nonlinear impact on growth via their deleterious impact on institutional quality. We show this result to be very robust. The Nigerian experience provides telling confirmation of this aspect of natural resources. Waste and poor institutional quality stemming from oil appear to have been primarily responsible for Nigeria's poor long-run economic performance. We propose a solution for addressing this resource curse which involves directly distributing the oil revenues to the public. Even with all the difficulties that will no doubt plague its actual implementation, our proposal will, at the least, be vastly superior to the status quo. At best, however, it could fundamentally improve the quality of public institutions and, as a result, durably raise long-run growth performance.

Keywords: WP; natural resource; Dutch disease; exchange rate; oil revenue; private sector; natural resources; oil; Nigeria; institutions; growth; dependent variable; Nigeria dummy; natural resource variable; oil resource; resource export; growth performance; natural resource-ownership; corroborating government figures; natural resource curse; physical capital; status quo; Oil; gas and mining taxes; Oil prices; Non-renewable resources; East Asia; Sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47
Date: 2003-07-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (520)

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Journal Article: Addressing the Natural Resource Curse: An Illustration from Nigeria (2013)
Chapter: Addressing the Natural Resource Curse: An Illustration from Nigeria (2008)
Working Paper: Addressing the Natural Resource Curse: An Illustration from Nigeria (2003)
Working Paper: Addressing the natural resource curse: An illustration from Nigeria (2003)
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