IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/5398.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey D. Sachs
  • Andrew M. Warner

Abstract

One of the surprising features of modern economic growth is that economies with abundant natural resources have tended to grow less rapidly than natural-resource-scarce economies. In this paper we show that economies with a high ratio of natural resource exports to GDP in 1971 (the base year) tended to have low growth rates during the subsequent period 1971-89. This negative relationship holds true even after controlling for variables found to be important for economic growth, such as initial per capita income, trade policy, government efficiency, investment rates, and other variables. We explore the possible pathways for this negative relationship by studying the cross-country effects of resource endowments on trade policy, bureaucratic efficiency, and other determinants of growth. We also provide a simple theoretical model of endogenous growth that might help to explain the observed negative relationship.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew M. Warner, 1995. "Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 5398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5398
    Note: EFG IFM EEE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w5398.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew M. Warner, 1995. "Economic Convergence and Economic Policies," NBER Working Papers 5039, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Warner, Andrew M., 1994. "Mexico's investment collapse: debt or oil?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 239-256, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrés, Antonio R. & Goel, Rajeev K., 2012. "Does software piracy affect economic growth? Evidence across countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 284-295.
    2. Nunnenkamp, Peter, 1997. "Herausforderungen der Globalisierung für Brasilien," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 1705, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW).
    3. Gundlach, Erich, 1998. "Das Wirtschaftswachstum der Nationen im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 1756, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW).
    4. Lant Pritchett, 1997. "Divergence, Big Time," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 3-17, Summer.
    5. Baarsch, Florent & Granadillos, Jessie R. & Hare, William & Knaus, Maria & Krapp, Mario & Schaeffer, Michiel & Lotze-Campen, Hermann, 2020. "The impact of climate change on incomes and convergence in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Christiaensen, Luc & Scott, Christopher & Wodon, Quentin, 2002. "Metas y costos del desarrollo [Development Targets and Costs]," MPRA Paper 10493, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Serven, Luis, 1995. "Capital goods imports, the real exchange rate and the current account," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1-2), pages 79-101, August.
    8. Diego Comin & Norman Loayza & Farooq Pasha & Luis Serven, 2014. "Medium Term Business Cycles in Developing Countries," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 209-245, October.
    9. Zhang, Zhaoyong, 2003. "Can the rest of East Asia catch up with Japan: some empirical evidence," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 91-110, January.
    10. Christiaensen, Luc & Scott, Christopher & Wodon, Quentin, 2002. "Задачи Развития И Затраты [Development targets and costs]," MPRA Paper 10495, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Marco Fugazza, 2004. "Export Performance And Its Determinants: Supply And Demand Constraints," UNCTAD Blue Series Papers 26, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    12. Christiaensen, Luc & Scott, Christopher & Wodon, Quentin, 2002. "Development Targets and Costs," MPRA Paper 12299, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Will Martin & Kym Anderson, 2007. "The Doha agenda and agricultural trade reform: the role of economic analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 37(s1), pages 77-87, December.
    14. Ricardo Hausmann & Lant Pritchett & Dani Rodrik, 2005. "Growth Accelerations," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 303-329, December.
    15. Phoebe W. Ishak & Pierre-Guillaume Méon, 2020. "A resource-rich neighbor is a misfortune: The spatial distribution of the resource curse in Brazil," Working Papers CEB 20-001, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    16. Halmai Peter & Vasary Viktoria, 2009. "Economic Growth and Convergence in the European Union," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1, pages 171-188, May.
    17. Stephen Dobson & Carlyn Ramlogan & Eric Strobl, 2006. "Why Do Rates Of Β‐Convergence Differ? A Meta‐Regression Analysis," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 53(2), pages 153-173, May.
    18. Stimpfle, Alexander & Stadelmann, David, 2015. "The Impact of Fundamental Development Factors on Different Income Groups: International Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113128, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. Rodriguez-Clare, Andres, 1996. "The division of labor and economic development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 3-32, April.
    20. Borut Vojinović & Mariusz Próchniak, 2009. "Divergence Period in the European Convergence Process," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 15(4), pages 685-700, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Прокляття ресурсів in Wikipedia Ukranian
    2. Ресурстар қарғысы in Wikipedia Kazakh
    3. Luonnonvarojen kirous in Wikipedia Finnish
    4. Ресурсное проклятие in Wikipedia Russian
    5. Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth (NBER 1995) in ReplicationWiki
    6. Resursförbannelsen in Wikipedia Swedish
    7. Maledizione delle risorse in Wikipedia Italian
    8. 資源の呪い in Wikipedia Japanese
    9. Ressourcenfluch in Wikipedia German
    10. Armut in Wikipedia German
    11. Kutukan sumber daya in Wikipedia Indonesian

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5398. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.