Thinking global, living local: Voices in a globalized world

Are Rich Countries Immune to the Resource Curse? Evidence from Norway’s Management of Its Oil Riches

Written by on . Published in Avoiding the resource curse on , , .

Growth studies show, counter to intuition, that the discovery of a natural resource may be a curse rather than a blessing since resource-rich countries grow slower than others. But it has been suggested that Norway may be an important exception to the curse and that the curse does not afflict rich countries. This article addresses both issues, and introduces a new diagnostic test. Neighbor countries Denmark and Sweden are used to highlight Norway’s relative development and to test for curse presence. I employ a structural break technique to demonstrate that Norway started an acceleration in the early 70s, after having discovered oil in 1969, and did not experience a pronounced retardation for the next 25 years. Instead, after first catching-up with its neighbors, Norway maintained a higher pace of growth. Norway might have escaped the curse. However, data suggest a slow-down at the end of the period, opening the possibility of a late onset of the curse.

[issuu layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml showflipbtn=true documentid=110510125522-d42bc2eb37cd4a3996bd411d8bd5a5d5 docname=larsen_are_rich_countries_immune_to_the_resource_c username=FutureChallenges loadinginfotext=Are%20Rich%20Countries%20Immune%20to%20the%20Resource%20Curse%3F%20Evidence%20From%20Norway’s%20Management%20of%20Its%20Oil%20Riches showhtmllink=true tag=denmark width=420 height=297 unit=px]

Tags: , , ,

Mario Wiedemann Twitter: mariosorg

#Digitalization, #ICT4Change, #OpenData, #NonProfits, #HumanRights. Co-Founder Future Challenges @fc__org.