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Oil at work: natural resource effects on household well-being in Ghana

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  • Akwasi Ampofo

    (University of Adelaide)

Abstract

The extraction of natural resources can have social and economic impacts on residents in a locality. Existing micro-level studies examining natural resources impact, like oil, have focused on developed economies and examine the impact at the means. This paper examines the effect of oil extraction across the distribution of households’ expenditure in Ghana. Using household-level data, we employ an unconditional quantile difference-in-differences strategy to show that oil extraction has a positive effect on low-expenditure or poor households but negative effects for high-expenditure or rich households. Additionally, there are heterogeneous effects across household expenditure share on food and non-food items, localities and gender. Results are broadly consistent with theoretical predictions from standard microeconomics models.

Suggested Citation

  • Akwasi Ampofo, 2021. "Oil at work: natural resource effects on household well-being in Ghana," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 1013-1058, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:60:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s00181-019-01774-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-019-01774-6
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    Cited by:

    1. Ampofo, Akwasi & Mabefam, Matthew Gmalifo, 2021. "Religiosity and Energy Poverty: Empirical evidence across countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Expenditure; Natural resources; Resource booms; DID estimation; Quantiles; Welfare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development
    • Q33 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Resource Booms (Dutch Disease)
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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