RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Minerals, Institutions, Openness, and Growth: An Empirical Analysis
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 313
OP 328
DO 10.3368/le.86.2.313
VO 86
IS 2
A1 James L. Butkiewicz
A1 Halit Yanikkaya
YR 2010
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/86/2/313.abstract
AB Competing explanations of the resource curse are tested using panel data. The data support the existence of a mineral resource curse for developing countries with weak institutions, consistent with the hypothesis that owners of mineral resources use weak institutions and openness to trade to stifle the development of human capital, to the detriment of growth in other sectors of the economy. Manufacturing imports substitute for the development of domestic production, so openness to trade correlates with lower growth in mineral dependent economies. The “Dutch disease” and debt overhang explanations of the resource curse are not supported. (JEL O11, Q32)