Timor-Leste is among the youngest nations in the world. It started its independence under difficult circumstances: poverty is widespread, education is poor, the industrial sector is non-existent, and political turbulence is on the rise. On the positive side, future oil revenues are predicted to be substantial, which could potentially be of large help in Timor-Leste’s strive for development. This paper examines critically the possibility for Timor-Leste to use oil revenues to achieve economic development. It describes how difficult it is to estimate the future revenues because of volatile prices, territorial disputes, and insufficient seismological mapping. It continues with a discussion of the “resource curse”: the difficulty of combining natural resources with economic development. Moreover, the particular challenges for Timor Leste’s development are dealt with at some length, as are possible ways to avoid the resource curse.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by The European Institute of Japanese Studies in its series EIJS Working Paper Series with number
229.
Length: 27 pages Date of creation: 01 Oct 2006 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:hhs:eijswp:0229
Contact details of provider: Postal: The European Institute of Japanese Studies, Stockholm School of Economics, P.O. Box 6501, 113 83 Stockholm, Sweden Phone: +46-8-7369360 Fax: +46-8-313017 Email: Web page: http://www.hhs.se/eijs/ More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Nanhee Lee).
Find related papers by JEL classification: L71 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction - - - Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Hydrocarbon Fuels O13 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products O53 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: