Testing the neocon agenda: democracy in resource-rich societies
Resource-rich countries have tended to be autocratic and also have tended to use their resource wealth badly. The neoconservative agenda of promoting democratization in resource-rich countries thus offers the hopeful prospect of a better use of their economic opportunities. This paper examines wheth...
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| Format: | Working paper |
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University of Oxford
2008
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| _version_ | 1826261379874553856 |
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| author | Collier, P Hoeffler, A |
| author_facet | Collier, P Hoeffler, A |
| author_sort | Collier, P |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Resource-rich countries have tended to be autocratic and also have tended to use their resource wealth badly. The neoconservative agenda of promoting democratization in resource-rich countries thus offers the hopeful prospect of a better use of their economic opportunities. This paper examines whether the effect of democracy on economic performance is distinctive in resource-rich societies. We show that a priori the sign of the effect is ambiguous: resource rents could either enhance or undermine the economic consequences of democracy. We therefore investigate the issue empirically. We first build a new data set on country-specific resource rents, annually for the period 1970-2001. Using a global panel data set we find that in developing countries the combination of high natural resource rents and open democratic systems has been growth-reducing. Checks and balances offset this adverse effect. Thus, resource-rich economies need a distinctive form of democracy with particularly strong checks and balances. Unfortunately this is rare: checks and balances are public goods and so are liable to be undersupplied in new democracies. Over time they are eroded by resource rents. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T19:20:30Z |
| format | Working paper |
| id | oxford-uuid:19ea9d71-c0e1-4aa8-9534-1700f2c6c314 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T19:20:30Z |
| publishDate | 2008 |
| publisher | University of Oxford |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:19ea9d71-c0e1-4aa8-9534-1700f2c6c3142022-03-26T10:51:45ZTesting the neocon agenda: democracy in resource-rich societiesWorking paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:19ea9d71-c0e1-4aa8-9534-1700f2c6c314Bulk import via SwordSymplectic ElementsUniversity of Oxford2008Collier, PHoeffler, AResource-rich countries have tended to be autocratic and also have tended to use their resource wealth badly. The neoconservative agenda of promoting democratization in resource-rich countries thus offers the hopeful prospect of a better use of their economic opportunities. This paper examines whether the effect of democracy on economic performance is distinctive in resource-rich societies. We show that a priori the sign of the effect is ambiguous: resource rents could either enhance or undermine the economic consequences of democracy. We therefore investigate the issue empirically. We first build a new data set on country-specific resource rents, annually for the period 1970-2001. Using a global panel data set we find that in developing countries the combination of high natural resource rents and open democratic systems has been growth-reducing. Checks and balances offset this adverse effect. Thus, resource-rich economies need a distinctive form of democracy with particularly strong checks and balances. Unfortunately this is rare: checks and balances are public goods and so are liable to be undersupplied in new democracies. Over time they are eroded by resource rents. |
| spellingShingle | Collier, P Hoeffler, A Testing the neocon agenda: democracy in resource-rich societies |
| title | Testing the neocon agenda: democracy in resource-rich societies |
| title_full | Testing the neocon agenda: democracy in resource-rich societies |
| title_fullStr | Testing the neocon agenda: democracy in resource-rich societies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Testing the neocon agenda: democracy in resource-rich societies |
| title_short | Testing the neocon agenda: democracy in resource-rich societies |
| title_sort | testing the neocon agenda democracy in resource rich societies |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT collierp testingtheneoconagendademocracyinresourcerichsocieties AT hoefflera testingtheneoconagendademocracyinresourcerichsocieties |