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The Oil Nouveau-Riche and Arms Imports

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  • Vezina,Pierre-Louis

Abstract

Countries that strike it rich when exploring for oil and gas often fail to see growth materialize. This paper shows that one way things can get messy is via squandering new wealth, based on future resource revenues, on arms imports. In the five years following a giant oil or gas discovery, arms imports increase by 25 percent. The effect is even larger, at 51 percent, when the price of oil is as high as $80 per barrel. These estimates can be interpreted causally as the timing of giant oil discoveries is unpredictable due to the uncertain nature of exploration.

Suggested Citation

  • Vezina,Pierre-Louis, 2020. "The Oil Nouveau-Riche and Arms Imports," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9374, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9374
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ben Youssef, Slim, 2025. "The relationships between political stability, military expenditures, arms imports, and oil exports: a CS-DL approach for six Gulf countries," MPRA Paper 125364, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Adrien Desroziers & Yassine Kirat & Arsham Reisinezhad, 2023. "Carbon curse: As you extract, so you will burn," Working Papers 2023.09, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    4. Battiston, Giacomo & Bizzarri, Matteo & Franceschin, Riccardo, 2025. "Third-party interest, resource value, and the likelihood of conflict," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    5. Ben Youssef, Slim, 2025. "The relationships between political stability, arms imports, oil exports, and GHG emissions: a CS-DL approach for eight Gulf countries," MPRA Paper 124791, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • Q33 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Resource Booms (Dutch Disease)

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