Golden opportunities: Firm-level evidence on the economic impacts of mining operations

This paper examines the economic effects of gold mining operations on local firm performance using a comprehensive firm-level panel dataset. Employing fixed-effects models that exploit temporal and spatial variation in mine openings and activity status, we find that firms within a 10–100 kilometer radius of active mining operations experience significant positive effects: annual sales increase, employment rates rise—with a notable shift toward male and full-time positions—and firms adopt more autonomous and resilient trade practices. Our analysis suggests that these improvements are facilitated by reductions in business constraints, particularly those related to power supply, transportation infrastructure, customs procedures, court efficiency, tax administration, and reliance on less-educated workers. While mining boosts firm performance overall, sales gains concentrate in less-corrupt countries, while employment effects dominate in more-corrupt ones.