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The Resource Curse: A Corporate Transparency Channel

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  • Art Durnev

    () (Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University)

  • Sergei Guriev

    () (CEFIR, New Economic School and CEPR)

Abstract

We propose and investigate a new channel through which the resource curse - a stylized fact that countries rich in natural resources grow slower - operates. Predatory governments are more likely to expropriate corporate profits in natural-resource industries when the price of resources is higher. Corporations whose profits are more dependent on the price of resources can mitigate the risk of expropriation by reducing corporate transparency. Lower transparency, in turn, leads to inefficient capital allocation and slower economic growth. Using a panel of 72 industries from 51 countries over 16 years, we demonstrate that the negative effect of expropriation risk on corporate transparency is stronger for industries that are especially vulnerable to expropriation, in particular, for industries whose profits are highly correlated with oil prices. Controlling for country, year, and industry fixed effects, we find that corporate transparency is lower in more oil price-dependent industries when the price of oil is high and property rights are poorly protected. Furthermore, corporate growth is hampered in oil price-sensitive industries because of less efficient capital allocation driven by adverse effects of lower transparency.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR) in its series Working Papers with number w0108.

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Length: 64 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0108

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Related research

Keywords: Resource Curse; Oil Reserves; Expropriation; Autocracy; Transparency and Disclosure; Investment Efficiency; Industry Growth;

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References

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  1. Christian Leuz & Felix Oberholzer-Gee, 2003. "Political Relationships, Global Financing and Corporate Transparency," CREMA Working Paper Series 2003-03, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
  2. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2000. "Do CEOs Set Their Own Pay? The Ones Without Principals Do," NBER Working Papers 7604, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Black, Bernard S. & Love, Inessa & Rachinsky, Andrei, 2006. "Corporate governance indices and firms' market values: Time series evidence from Russia," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 361-379, December.
  4. Daniel Berkowitz & Yadviga Semikolenova, 2006. "Privatization with Government Control: Evidence from the Russian Oil Sector," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp826, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
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Cited by:
  1. Art Durnev & Vihang Errunza & Alexander Molchanov, 2009. "Property rights protection, corporate transparency, and growth," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 40(9), pages 1533-1562, December.
  2. Ramos, Sofia B. & Veiga, Helena, 2011. "Risk factors in oil and gas industry returns: International evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 525-542, May.
  3. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2011. "Natural Resources: Curse or Blessing?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 366-420, June.
  4. Steven Poelhekke & Frederick van der Ploeg, 2010. "Do Natural Resources Attract FDI? Evidence from non-stationary sector level data," DNB Working Papers 266, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
  5. Alexander Plekhanov & Sergei Guriev & Konstantin Sonin, 2009. "Development based on commodity revenues," Working Papers 108, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Office of the Chief Economist.

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