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The presource curse in Africa: Economic and political effects of anticipating natural resource revenues

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
The presource curse in Africa: Economic and political effects of anticipating natural resource revenues
Abstract
The notion of the ‘resource curse’ suggests that large inflows of extractive industry revenues cause many adverse macro-economic and political effects. The resource curse literature focuses on the impact of actual inflows of extractive resource revenues. However, anticipation of future resource revenues can also lead to negative macro-economic and political effects even before resource extraction takes place, which points to the role of behavioral aspects of the ‘resource curse’. Using empirical evidence from three African countries, this article investigates to what extent the anticipation of future extractive revenues led to ‘presource curse’ effects. It finds that all three countries experienced negative effects as a result of anticipation of future extractive revenues, including economic growth volatility, higher levels of national debt, eroded governance and societal conflicts. Given the phenomenal increase in oil, gas and metal ore exploration across Africa, it is likely that many countries experience the negative effects of a presource curse without natural resource extraction or long before natural resources are actually extracted.
Publication
The Extractive Industries and Society
Volume
7
Issue
4
Pages
1257-1270
Date
November 1, 2020
Journal Abbr
The Extractive Industries and Society
Language
en
ISSN
2214-790X
Short Title
The presource curse in Africa
Accessed
04/11/2021, 22:08
Library Catalogue
ScienceDirect
Citation
Frynas, J. G., & Buur, L. (2020). The presource curse in Africa: Economic and political effects of anticipating natural resource revenues. The Extractive Industries and Society, 7(4), 1257–1270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.05.014
Language / Linguagem