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Indra De Soysa - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Do Resource-Wealthy Rulers Adopt Transparency-Promoting Laws? An Empirical Analysis
2017Co-Authors: Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati, Indra De SoysaAbstract:Some argue that the ‘natural Resource curse’ does not occur if countries have better institutions. Rulers with access to Resource Wealth, however, are unlikely to make institutional changes that might undermine their discretionary power. We examine this proposition by testing whether countries with access to natural Resource Wealth are less likely to adopt transparency-promoting Freedom of Information (FOI) laws after accounting for the current level of democracy and the quality of institutions. Using Panel data on 139 countries between 1980-2012 (33 years), we find that countries deriving rents from natural Resource are less likely to adopt FOI laws. We also find that oil, rather than other Resources, is robustly related to a lower probability of adopting FOI laws. However, higher income from Resources is positively associated with the chance of adopting FOI laws conditional on very strong levels of existing democracy and institutions, signifying that rulers of Resource Wealth need to face fairly high political constraints before they adopt institutional changes. Global policy aimed at increasing transparency within Resource-Wealthy states will have to focus efforts on strengthening democracy in ways that increase political competition. Our findings are robust to alternative samples, measurement, and several different estimation strategies.
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Do Resource-Wealthy Rulers Adopt Transparency-Promoting Laws?
International Studies Quarterly, 2016Co-Authors: Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati, Indra De SoysaAbstract:Some argue that the right kinds of institutions mitigate, or even prevent, the development of “natural Resource curses.” Rulers with access to Resource Wealth, however, are unlikely to adopt such institutions, because doing so would undermine their discretionary power. We examine this proposition by testing whether countries with access to natural Resource Wealth prove less likely to adopt transparency-promoting Freedom of Information (FOI) laws. Using panel data on 139 countries between 1980 and 2012 (33 years), we find that, after accounting for current levels of democracy and the quality of institutions, countries deriving rents from natural Resource are, indeed, less likely to adopt FOI laws. We also find that oil, but not other kinds of Resources, is robustly related to a lower probability of adopting FOI laws. However, in countries with strong democracy and high institutional quality, higher income from Resources is positively associated with the chance of adopting FOI laws. This suggests that rulers of countries with high Resource Wealth need to face high political constraints already before they adopt institutional changes. It follows that global policy aimed at increasing transparency within Resource-Wealthy states should focus efforts on strengthening democracy in ways that increase political competition.
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More heat, less light! The Resource curse & HIV/AIDS: A reply to Olivier Sterck
Social science & medicine (1982), 2015Co-Authors: Indra De Soysa, Ismene Theodora GizelisAbstract:We reported fairly robust results suggesting that Resource rich countries did less well containing HIV/AIDS than Resource poor states (de Soysa and Gizelis, 2013). We argued that public action to prevent the spread of disease was going to be weaker in Resource rich states because rulers would have less incentive to fight disease. Olivier Sterck (this issue) criticizes our study on several grounds, arguing that Resource rich states can provide anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and thereby fight the AIDS epidemic. He, however, finds no relationship between Resource Wealth and HIV/AIDS. We argue that his reanalyses do not fully address the theoretical association between Resource Wealth and the spread of HIV/AIDS and that his argument about ART is more wishful than a realistic expectation. Future research should probe more carefully why Resource Wealth has not been deployed more effectively for fighting disease—a point we can all agree on.
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Resource Wealth and the Risk of Civil War Onset: Results from a New Dataset of Natural Resource Rents, 1970–1999
Conflict Management and Peace Science, 2007Co-Authors: Indra De Soysa, Eric NeumayerAbstract:The existing literature identifies natural Resource Wealth as a major determinant of civil war. The dominant causal link is that Resources provide finance and motive (the “looting rebels” model). Others see natural Resources as causing “political Dutch disease,” which in turn weakens state capacity (the “state capacity” model). In the looting rebels model, Resource Wealth first increases, but then decreases the risk for civil war as very large Wealth enables governments to constrain rebels, whereas in the state capacity model, large Resource Wealth is unambiguously related to higher risk of war. This research note uses a new dataset on natural Resource rents that are disaggregated as mineral and energy rents for addressing the Resources-conflict relationship. We find that neither a dummy variable for major oil exporters nor our Resource rents variables predict civil war onset with a 1000-battle-death threshold coded by Fearon and Laitin (2003) in the period after 1970 for which rents data are available. However, using a lower threshold of 25 battle deaths, we find that energy Wealth, but not mineral Wealth, increases the risk for civil war onset. We find no evidence for a nonlinear relationship between either type of Resources and civil war onset. The results tentatively support theories built around state capacity models and provide evidence against the looting rebels model of civil war onset.
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The devil's excrement as social cement: natural Resources and political terror, 1980–2002
International Social Science Journal, 2005Co-Authors: Indra De Soysa, Helga Malmin BinningsbøAbstract:Using a direct measure of repression of dissent, we find ample evidence to suggest that energy and mineral Wealth strongly predict higher levels of political terror, results that are both statistically and substantively large. Oil-rich and mineral-rich countries contain higher levels of political terror regardless of the level of autocracy, the incidence of civil and international war and sundry controls. The results are robust to different measures of Resource Wealth, alternative measures of repression, testing methods and several model specifications. The quality of economic governance, measured as the level of economic freedom, has strong negative effects on political terror and conditions the effects of Resource Wealth in the direction of more humane governance. Our results suggest several entry points for global and local policy-makers that seek to extirpate the curse of natural Wealth.
Joel W. Simmons - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Resource Wealth and women s economic and political power in the u s states
Comparative Political Studies, 2016Co-Authors: Joel W. SimmonsAbstract:Ross argues that oil Wealth reduces women’s economic and political power, but critics maintain that accounting for a community’s attitudes toward gender equality makes the gendered Resource curse disappear. This article disentangles the two perspectives by studying the effects of Resource Wealth on women’s economic and political status in the U.S. states, where Resource Wealth varies significantly while cultural differences are comparatively small. Data between 1997 and 2012 reveal evidence of a gendered Resource curse, consistent with Ross. I also update the theory of the gendered Resource curse by showing, via a culture-augmented labor–leisure model of workforce participation, that far from being irrelevant when accounting for varying attitudes toward gender roles, Resource Wealth and those patriarchal attitudes combine to suppress even more women’s economic and political influence. Data from the U.S. states support this expectation as well.
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Evidence suggests that America’s Resource Wealth undermines women’s economic and political power
2015Co-Authors: Joel W. SimmonsAbstract:The problem of the ‘Resource curse’ for countries with access to a greater abundance of natural Resources is well known – but does this curse also extend to the undermining of women’s economic and political power? In new research examining US states, Joel W. Simmons finds that states which produce more Resource Wealth have lower levels of labor force participation, lower voter turnout rates, and lower political representation among women. He argues that these trends are caused by higher wage flows to male dominated sectors during Resource booms, which in turn leads to more women exiting the workforce, and therefore having less political power.
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Resource Wealth and Women’s Economic and Political Power in the U.S. States:
Comparative Political Studies, 2015Co-Authors: Joel W. SimmonsAbstract:Ross argues that oil Wealth reduces women’s economic and political power, but critics maintain that accounting for a community’s attitudes toward gender equality makes the gendered Resource curse disappear. This article disentangles the two perspectives by studying the effects of Resource Wealth on women’s economic and political status in the U.S. states, where Resource Wealth varies significantly while cultural differences are comparatively small. Data between 1997 and 2012 reveal evidence of a gendered Resource curse, consistent with Ross. I also update the theory of the gendered Resource curse by showing, via a culture-augmented labor–leisure model of workforce participation, that far from being irrelevant when accounting for varying attitudes toward gender roles, Resource Wealth and those patriarchal attitudes combine to suppress even more women’s economic and political influence. Data from the U.S. states support this expectation as well.
Michael L. Ross - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Politics of the Resource Curse
Oxford Handbooks Online, 2016Co-Authors: Michael L. RossAbstract:This article considers the debate over the “Resource curse” (i.e., whether too much natural-Resource Wealth is harmful for developing countries) along with the debate about the mechanisms and conditions that likely generate the reported problems. After reviewing the literature on the Resource curse, this article discusses the ways that scholars define “natural Resources.” It then analyzes research on how Resource Wealth affects democracy, the quality of government institutions, and the incidence of violent conflict. It cites evidence showing that petroleum Wealth, in particular, seems to have at least three harmful effects: to make authoritarian regimes more durable, to increase certain types of corruption, and to foster the onset of violent conflict in low- and middle-income countries, particularly when this form of mineral Wealth is found in the territory of marginalized ethnic groups.
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Oil, Taxation and Transparency: Model and Empirics
2015Co-Authors: Hamid Mohtadi, Michael L. Ross, Stefan RuedigeryAbstract:Natural Resource Wealth has been linked to a wide range of adverse economic and political outcomes1 . The relationship between Resource Wealth and government transparency, however, remains both highly salient and poorly-understood. Academic studies suggest that petroleum Wealth is associated with reduced transparency, meaning fewer public disclosures about government policies, institutions, and activities (Egorov, et. al.2009, Ross 2011, Williams 2011)2 (see gure 1). In the policy world several international initiatives are based on the belief that heightened transparency can improve the governance of Resource Wealth and avert a Resource curse.3 It is not well-established, however, why Resource Wealth might reduce transparency, and the conditions under which this relationship is observed. We seek to bring clarity to this issue with a formal model focused on the link between oil revenues and transparency. In it public o¢ cials make trade-o¤s between improved tax compliance, which requires greater transparency, and gains from corruption, which are aided by reduced transparency. Oil windfalls diminish the governments need for tax revenue and hence tax compliance, causing
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The Political Economy of the Resource Curse
World Politics, 1999Co-Authors: Michael L. RossAbstract:How does a state's natural Resource Wealth influence its economic development? For the past fifty years, versions of this question have been explored by both economists and political scientists. New research suggests that Resource Wealth tends to harm economic growth, yet there is little agreement on why this occurs. This article reviews a wide range of recent attempts in both economics and political science to explain the “Resource curse.” It suggests that much has been learned about the economic problems of Resource exporters but less is known about their political problems. The disparity between strong findings on economic matters and weak findings on political ones partly reflects the failure of political scientists to carefully test their own theories.
Rognvaldur Hannesson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the exclusive economic zone and economic development in the pacific island countries
Marine Policy, 2008Co-Authors: Rognvaldur HannessonAbstract:The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) became accepted internationally in the 1970s. This transferred Resource Wealth to the coastal states establishing such zones. The history of the EEZ is reviewed, and its impact on the economic development of the Pacific island states considered. The growth performance and the tuna fishery development of these states are reviewed and possible causes of limited success discussed. The use of trust funds to increase the Resource Wealth of the Pacific island states is briefly considered.
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the exclusive economic zone and economic development in the pacific island countries
Marine Policy, 2008Co-Authors: Rognvaldur HannessonAbstract:The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) became accepted internationally in the 1970s. This transferred Resource Wealth to the coastal states establishing such zones. The history of the EEZ is reviewed, and its impact on the economic development of the Pacific island states considered. The growth performance and the tuna fishery development of these states are reviewed and possible causes of limited success discussed. The use of trust funds to increase the Resource Wealth of the Pacific island states is briefly considered.
Nathalie Francken - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Middle East and North Africa: Cursed by Natural Resources?
Economic Development in the Middle East and North Africa, 2016Co-Authors: Mohamed Sami Ben Ali, Lara Cockx, Nathalie FranckenAbstract:The relationship between natural Resource Wealth and economic growth has been extensively studied. As opposed to basic intuition, the results of several empirical studies suggest that vast natural capital endowments don’t necessarily generate prosperity, giving rise to the idea that natural Resource Wealth represents a curse rather than a blessing for economic development.
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Natural Resource Wealth and public social spending in the Middle East and North Africa
2015Co-Authors: Lara Cockx, Nathalie FranckenAbstract:This paper investigates the discrepancy between the vast natural Resource Wealth and the relatively low spending on human development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Our results show a robust, significant inverse relationship between natural Resource dependence and public health spending, and natural Resource dependence and public education spending over time. The effects remain significant after controlling for income, aid, the age structure of the population, and the quality of institutions. Moreover, we find a particularly strong Resource curse effect of oil on social spending. Despite the mounting burden on MENA‘s economic development models due to significant population growth and the pressing need for diversification, countries have been unable or unwilling to convert natural Resource Wealth into increased social spending. Governments should be strongly encouraged to manage their natural Wealth in an accountable and equitable manner that follows international best practice. Correct taxation of natural Resource, and especially, oil Wealth should provide the governments with adequate budgets to fund a desirable level of public health provision. Finally, the equity of distribution of education spending could be improved.
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Extending the concept of the Resource curse: natural Resources and public spending on health
Ecological Economics, 2014Co-Authors: Lara Cockx, Nathalie FranckenAbstract:This paper extends the concept of the Resource curse by studying whether and through which transmission channels natural Resource Wealth affects social spending. Even though the availability of vast natural capital reserves has commonly been linked to the neglect of human development, most of the literature has continued to focus on economic performance. This paper is the first to empirically investigate the link between natural Resource Wealth and public health expenditures in light of the hypothesis that Resource Wealth as a source of unearned state income enhances state autonomy and increases volatility, which leads to policies that fail to prioritize human development. Using a large panel dataset of world countries covering the period from 1995 to 2009, we find a robust, significant inverse relationship between natural Resource dependence, and even abundance, and public health spending over time. The effect remains significant after controlling for state autonomy, volatility, and other factors. These findings have implications for national authorities as well as the extractive industry. Governments should be made accountable for natural Resource Wealth and correct taxation could provide additional Resources, earmarked for health. The extractive industry could increase their investments in sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility operations, specifically in the health sector.
