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How are Oil Revenues Redistributed in an Oil Economy? The Case of Kazakhstan

Author

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  • Boris Najman

    (CNRS-ROSES University of Paris I)

  • Richard Pomfret

    (School of Economics, University of Adelaide)

  • Gael Raballand

    (World Bank)

  • Patricia Sourdin

    (School of Economics, University of Adelaide)

Abstract

The main value added of this paper is the empirical approach we use to assess the impact of the oil boom. The selected case study is Kazakhstan because an oil boom has driven Kazakhstan's economy since the discovery of large new oilfields in the late 1990's and early 2000's. We use household survey data from before and after the start of the oil boom to assess the extent to which the benefits from the oil boom were retained in the oil-producing regions, or spread evenly across the national economy, or were concentrated in metropolitan centres. Our assessment of the impact of oil boom confirms that oil revenues are not widely spread in the country, especially in rural regions (where oil is extracted). One of the two largest oil-producing regions remains, on average, the poorest region of the country. On the contrary, the two capitals of the country (Almaty, the former capital and financial centre, and Astana, the capital since 1997), home to the country's elite, have seen a major improvement of living conditions and revenues. Neither redistribution which oil companies undertake through social projects nor official redistribution through regional budgets seems to reach the poorest population in oilproducing regions, and it remains a major challenge for any government to redistribute evenly oil revenues in an oil economy. So far the main channel for redistribution has been unofficial, through the informal economy.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Boris Najman & Richard Pomfret & Gael Raballand & Patricia Sourdin, 2005. "How are Oil Revenues Redistributed in an Oil Economy? The Case of Kazakhstan," School of Economics and Public Policy Working Papers 2005-18, University of Adelaide, School of Economics and Public Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:adl:wpaper:2005-18
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Pomfret, Richard, 2007. "Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Kazakhstan," Agricultural Distortions Working Paper Series 48360, World Bank.
    2. Gerhard Toews, 2013. "Inflated Expectations and Natural Resource Booms: Evidence from Kazakhstan," OxCarre Working Papers 109, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    3. Manuela Troschke & Horst Ufer, 2006. "Fiskalische Dezentralisierung und regionale Disparitäten in Kasachstan," Working Papers 262, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).

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    JEL classification:

    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

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