Regime types,ideological leanings,and the natural resource curse

While many consider institutional quality as a central explanatory variable when finding what causes the variance in per capita GDP growth performance of resource-abundant countries, this paper attempts to focus on more structural factors: regime type and its ideological approaches to economic policy. Several joint effects of natural resource abundance and regime type on growth are found. The natural resource curse is likely to be more severe in authoritarian regimes than democratic regimes. Among democracies, it is found that the natural resource curse is more salient in presidential regimes than in parliamentary regimes. This paper also suggests that the natural resource curse is more likely when a certain type of democratic regime coincides with a particular ideological orientation of the regime with respect to economic policy. Presidential democracies with left-wing economic policy are found to be least growth enhancing among the combinations between regime type and its economic ideology offered, given similar levels of natural resource abundance.     

Some New Approaches to Evolutionary Economics

This paper examines the relationship between energy production and economic growth in New Mexico using cross section data for the state's 33 counties in Census years 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000. The central question is whether or not New Mexico's counties are subject to the resource curse, a phenomenon documented frequently in the literature. Most empirical studies of the resource curse hypothesis have used national or state level data and a broad definition of natural resources. In contrast, this analysis uses county level data with a focus on oil and gas extraction. The estimated models suggest that oil and gas extraction in New Mexico counties has had a small but positive effect on income, employment and population. Similar results were obtained when the model was estimated for 925 counties in 13 energy producing states for the year 2000.     

The interactive effects of human capital and quality of life on economic growth

To bridge the gap in the quality of life (QOL) and economic growth literature and understand the reinforcing effects of QOL and human capital on economic development, we examine the interactive effects of these two factors on wage growth from 2000 to 2007 at the county level across the United States. First, a Rosen–Roback model is employed to estimate implicit values of amenities including climate, clean air and other natural attributes, which are used to generate QOL indices. Second, QOL, human capital represented by the share of college graduates, and their interaction serve as key variables in the wage growth model. An instrumental variable approach and location fixed effects are used to address endogeneity of human capital and control for location-specific unobservable characteristics. Results suggest that human capital and QOL significantly contribute to economic growth and the growth effects are even larger in nonmetropolitan counties. Importantly, we find that the effect of human capital on growth is larger in high-QOL counties and QOL enhances the effect of human capital on growth. Our results provide empirical support for community development strategies through providing utility-enhancing amenities that improve QOL and retain human capital.     

The material basis of the global economy: Worldwide patterns of natural resource extraction and their implications for sustainable resource use policies

Material flow accounting and analysis (MFA) has been established as an influential framework for quantifying the use of natural resources by modern societies. So far, however, no reference data for overall scale and trends of global extraction of natural resources and their distribution between different world regions has been available. This paper presents the first comprehensive quantification of the material basis of the global economy, i.e. used domestic extraction in a time series from 1980 to 2002. We analyse time trends for major material groups (fossil fuels, metals, industrial and construction minerals, and biomass) disaggregated into seven world regions. This allows for (a) an illustration of the global economy's physical growth driven by worldwide processes of economic integration over the past decades, and (b) an indication of the worldwide distribution of environmental pressures associated with material extraction. The results show that annual resource consumption of the world economy increased by about one third between 1980 and 2002. This indicates that scale effects due to economic growth more than compensated for other effects, such as the relative increase of the service sectors' contribution to GDP (structural effect) and the use of new production technologies with higher material and energy efficiency (technology effect). The observed growth of natural resource extraction is unevenly distributed over the main material categories, with metals showing the highest growth rate. The regional analysis shows the increasing importance of Asia and Latin America in global resource extraction. On the global level, material intensity, i.e. resource extraction per unit of GDP, decreased by about 25%, indicating relative decoupling of resource extraction from economic growth. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for a more sustainable use of natural resources.     

自然资源对经济增长的影响——诅咒还是福音:一个研究综述

20世纪80年代末以前主流观点认为自然资源对经济增长有积极的促进作用,但20世纪80年代末以后这种观点逐渐被取代为:一国的自然资源丰裕反而会使该国的经济陷入负增长,这一现象被称为资源诅咒.随后很多学者对这一命题进行实证检验并探寻其传导机制,但是自然资源诅咒并非规律性命题.因为确实存在一些资源富裕的国家,如加拿大、溴大利亚、挪威、博茨瓦纳、印度尼西亚、马来西亚等的经济却在保持高增长.目前人们正在达成一种新的共识:制度因素和政策措施在自然资源丰裕对经济增长的作用中起着重要作用,良好的制度质量和合理的政策措施是克服资源诅咒的关键因素.当一国制度质量是好的,那么自然资源是福音,会促进经济增长;当一国制度质量是差的,那么自然资源是诅咒,会降低经济增长.     

Constitutions and the resource curse

Utilizing the fact that natural resources are randomly distributed among countries, we investigate how public income shocks have different long run economic effects dependent on constitutional arrangements. We find that (i) the so-called ‘resource curse’ is present in democratic presidential countries—but not in democratic parliamentary countries, (ii) being parliamentary or presidential matters more for the growth effects of natural resources than being democratic or autocratic, and (iii) natural resources are more likely to reduce growth when proportional electoral systems are in place than when the electoral systems are majoritarian. The two first effects appear very robust, the last effect less so.     

土地资源在经济增长中的影响效应研究

通过构建包括土地资源的多要素CES生产函数,可从理论分析的角度刻画土地资源对经济增长的影响效应,并对其中的重要影响因子进行相关性分析.文章从土地资源约束对经济增长的“阻尼”效应、土地资源在经济增长中的人均产出效应以及土地供给增长对经济增长的拉动效应三个不同的视角,运用数理经济学的研究方法分析了土地资源对于经济增长的影响效应.研究结论是土地资源约束对经济增长的阻力大小一方面取决于行业属性,另一方面囿于国家经济的整体状况;在土地资源有限的客观经济现实约束下,人均可用土地资源的不断减少势必使经济增长回归到由资本和有效劳动所决定的稳态增长路径中,因此土地资源在平衡增长路径下是动态无效率的;更多依赖于土地或者其他自然资源投入的经济增长方式是不可持续的.     

自然资源与区域经济增长:一个文献综述

自然资源是影响区域经济增长的重要因素,但是一直以来资源问题却没有引起主流经济学界的重视,包含有自然资源因素的增长模型是对区域经济增长模型的扩展。经验数据表明自然资源在某种程度上会挤出物质资本,并影响效率,从而形成区域经济增长过程中的"资源陷阱"现象,西方学者对此做出了理论上的解释。     

Constitutions and the resource curse

Utilizing the fact that natural resources are randomly distributed among countries, we investigate how public income shocks have different long run economic effects dependent on constitutional arrangements. We find that (i) the so-called ‘resource curse’ is present in democratic presidential countries—but not in democratic parliamentary countries, (ii) being parliamentary or presidential matters more for the growth effects of natural resources than being democratic or autocratic, and (iii) natural resources are more likely to reduce growth when proportional electoral systems are in place than when the electoral systems are majoritarian. The two first effects appear very robust, the last effect less so.     

自然资源与经济增长:资源瓶颈及其解决途径

本文试图在新古典经济学框架内,解析古典经济学关于自然资源制约经济增长的传统,并揭示克服资源瓶颈的可能途径。文章首先扩展新古典索洛模型,证明在特定技术条件下,自然资源的固定禀赋最终将使经济增长停滞。然后分别探讨了解决资源瓶颈的两种机制。其一是产业转移,即开放条件下,厂商为摆脱本地资源瓶颈,通过向外地转移资本和劳动以利用该地的自然资源,从而带动了该后起地区的经济增长。其二是技术进步,即在封闭条件下,厂商将把一部分产出投入于研发活动,不断开发出自然资源增进型技术,从而推动本地区的又一波长期增长。     

从自然资源经济学到可持续经济学

随着物质生活水平的快速提高,人类也面临着诸如森林退化、土地荒漠化、物种多样性丧失以及温室效应恶化等生存环境问题。可持续发展问题日益受到人们的关注,通过经济学的视角来研究可持续发展的可持续经济学得到了快速的发展。本文从经济学的角度界定了自然资源的概念,回顾了经济学对自然资源的研究历程,对自然资源经济学的起源、发展进行了评述;论证了自然资源经济学和可持续经济学的关系,指出在可持续发展问题研究中融合自然资源经济学和环境经济学的必然性,以自然资源经济学和环境经济学为重要元素的可持续经济学是可持续问题经济研究的高级阶段,文章进一步探讨了可持续经济学的分析框架、发展现状及存在的问题。     

河北县域经济影响因素的空间差异分析——基于贝叶斯地理加权回归方法

利用卢卡斯内生增长模型和贝叶斯地理加权回归方法,使用2006-2009年相关数据,对河北省136个县市经济的影响因素进行了回归分析。结果表明,河北省县域经济存在着显著的空间相关性和空间异质性。县域经济的发展特征在不同次区域间表现出很大差别,而在同一次区域内则差别不大,同一市域则差别最小。据此指出在河北县域经济发展的统筹上,应以次区域为单位进行外部协调,以地级市为单位进行内部协调。在总结各地区县域经济发展特征基础上,对“十二五”时期河北县域经济发展提出了政策建议。     

Treaty of Paris vs. Treaty of Niagara: Rethinking Canadian economic history in the 21st century

In this paper, I argue that in focussing on the role of natural resource exports (“staples”) as drivers of the extent and characteristics of economic growth, Canadian economic history has overlooked questions of resource ownership. Equally it has focused on the development of the settler economy rather than on that of Indigenous nations, with little acknowledgement of the relationship between the two. I review some milestones in the evolution of legal recognition of Indigenous land and resource rights, an evolution that has a direct impact on today's Canadian economy. I then survey some recent papers to demonstrate that the theoretical and empirical tools of economists can combine to provide important new insights into, and a more holistic picture of, the development of the Canadian economy.     

The pattern of specialization and economic growth: The resource curse hypothesis revisited

This paper explores the relation between countries’ pattern of trade specialization and long-term economic growth. It shows that countries specializing in the export of natural resource based products only fail to grow if they do not succeed in diversifying their economies and export structure. This conclusion follows from an empirical investigation that has three innovative features. First, it uses a dynamic panel data analysis. Secondly, it employs disaggregated trade data sets to elaborate different measures of trade specialization that distinguish between unprocessed and manufactured natural resource products and are informative about the countries’ trade diversification experience, their link to world demand trends and involvement in intra-industry trade. The final innovative aspect of the paper relates to our empirical findings: it is only specialization in unprocessed natural resource products that slows down economic growth, as it impedes the emergence of more dynamic patterns of trade specialization.     

The Role of Natural Resources in Economic Development

Economists now recognize that, along with physical and human capital, environmental resources should be viewed as important economic assets, which can be called natural capital. Three recent debates have emerged over the role of natural capital in economic development. First, as many ecological services are unique, does the environment have an “essential” role in sustaining human welfare, and if so, are special “compensation rules” required to ensure that future welfare is not worsened by natural capital depletion today? Second, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis has fostered empirical estimations of an “inverted U” shaped relationship between a variety of indicators of environmental pollution or resource depletion and the level of per capita income. Does the existence of such EKC relationships suggest that environmental degradation will eventually decline with growth? Finally, recent economic theories and empirical evidence have questioned whether lower income economies that are endowed with abundant natural resources develop more rapidly than economies that are relatively resource poor. Is it possible that resource abundant economies are not reinvesting the rents generated from natural resource exploitation into productive assets, or that resource booms actually divert economic resources from more productive and innovative sectors?     

A decade of natural gas development: The makings of a resource curse?

Many studies find that areas more dependent on natural resources grow more slowly – a relationship known as the resource curse. For counties in the south-central U.S., I find little evidence of an emerging curse from greater natural gas production in the 2000s. Each gas-related mining job created more than one nonmining job, indicating that counties did not become more dependent on mining as measured by employment. Increases in population largely mitigated a rise in earnings per job and crowding out. Furthermore, changes in the adult population by education level reveal that greater production did not lead to a less educated population.     

“资源诅咒”悖论国外实证研究的最新进展及其争论

许多文献证明,自然资源缺乏的国家往往依靠技术和制度创新,实现了更快的经济增长,而自然资源丰裕的国家却容易陷入资源依赖型增长陷阱,经济学家用资源诅咒来描述这一经济增长中的悖论。资源诅咒的出现激起了学者们的广泛研究兴趣,产生了大量实证研究成果。本文将从荷兰病、制度和暴力冲突三个维度,对资源诅咒的国外最新实证文献进行系统梳理,并对目前学术界存在的争论进行述评。     

集中连片特困区旅游扶贫效率与经济发展水平的时空耦合关系——以武陵山片区为例

采用SBM模型和熵权TOPSIS分别测算武陵山片区42个国家级贫困县2010—2016年旅游扶贫效率和经济发展水平;运用耦合度模型探析旅游扶贫效率与经济发展水平的时空耦合关系。结果表明:①武陵山片区旅游扶贫效率整体水平较高,在小幅度波动中稳步上升,但各国家级贫困县旅游扶贫效率差异显著。②武陵山片区经济发展水平总体呈上升趋势,但综合指数较低,经济增速缓慢,区域差异显著。③研究期内,旅游扶贫效率与经济发展水平的耦合度较高且呈持续上升态势,二者处于良性协调发展状态;旅游扶贫效率与经济发展水平呈现显著的双向正相关关系,相较于旅游扶贫效率对经济发展水平的影响程度,区域经济水平的增长对提升旅游扶贫效率作用更加明显。     

Adaptive Economic Models

The growth literature has identified four channels of transmission by which the abundance of natural resources can negatively affect economic growth. In this article, I suggest ideology as a fifth transmission channel. To test this hypothesis, I exploit the geography of Bolivia whose western regions have natural resources that differ considerably from its eastern regions. I find that regions with predominantly extractive natural resources tend to choose redistributive and interventionist rather than laissez-faire policies. Additionally, I identify two effects on growth depending upon the type of natural resource that a region possesses in abundance.     

资源依赖、地理区位与城市经济增长

本文利用中国城市面板数据,探讨了资源依赖、地理区位与城市经济增长之间的相互关系。研究发现,在控制了地理区位因素之后,资源依赖与城市经济增长之间依然呈现反相关关系,"资源诅咒"在城市层面同样存在。同时,地理区位与自然资源依赖对城市经济增长存在显著的联合影响,距离重要港口城市、中心大城市和三大经济区域中心城市越近,城市经济增长对自然资源的依赖越低,其经济增长越好,优越的地理区位能够减轻资源依赖导致的"资源诅咒"效应。最后,我们的分析也表明,通过降低人力资本投资意愿,阻碍FDI流入,弱化民营经济增长等渠道,资源丰裕导致的资源依赖阻碍了城市的经济增长。