Revisiting the natural resource curse: A cross-country growth study

Abstract

This paper revisits the original natural resource curse study conducted by Sachs and Warner to investigate the relationship between natural resource dependence and per capita growth in recent data consisting of 68 developing countries that includes 14 Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and 6 Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries between 1994–2014. Using a cross-country data and modeling we find robust evidence of a negative association between per capita growth and natural resource dependence. This negative affect is especially prominent in oil-rich MENA countries. The presence of a natural resource curse presents challenges to policymakers especially in countries who have been taking measures to diversify their income-base.

Keywords

• economic growth
• natural resource curse
• cross-country