Title

The resource curse revisited: A Bayesian model averaging approach

Source of Publication

Energy Economics

Abstract

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. The evidence for the effects of oil rents on growth is mixed, a result which can be explained with model uncertainty. We address the issue using Bayesian Model Averaging techniques and an updated cross-country data set for long-term growth in the period 1970–2014, including 91 countries and 54 potential growth determinants. We do not find empirical evidence for the existence of a “natural resource curse” in our sample. On the contrary, our results suggest a robust positive effect of oil rents on long-term economic growth. We then introduce interaction terms of oil rents with potential conditions under which oil dependency can lead to sub-standard growth. The results indicate that the positive effect of oil rents may be conditional on the quality of institutions. We test the robustness of our results using a panel data set and find neither a curse nor a positive effect of oil rents on short- to medium-run growth.

Document Type

Article

First Page

170

Last Page

178

Publication Date

2-1-2018

DOI

10.1016/j.eneco.2017.12.033

Author First name, Last name, Institution

K. Peren Arin, Zayed University
Elias Braunfels, Oslo

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