Rent-Seeking and Criminal Politicians: Evidence from Mining Booms

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Sam Asher ◽  
Paul Novosad
Keyword(s):  
Moral Hazard ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
Direct Influence ◽  
Price Shocks ◽  
Mining Operations ◽  
Mining Sector ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Natural Resource Rents ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract We study how natural resource rents affect the selection and behavior of holders of public office. Using global price shocks to thirty-one minerals and nationwide geological and political data from India, we show that local mineral rent shocks cause the election of politicians charged with serious crimes. We also find a moral hazard effect: politicians commit more crimes and accumulate greater wealth when mineral prices rise during their terms in office. These politicians have direct influence over mining operations but no access to fiscal windfalls from mining; we thus isolate the direct political impacts of mining sector operations.

Increasing Natural Resource Rents from Farmland: A Curse or a Blessing for the Rural Poor?

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Hvid
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Welfare Losses ◽  
Natural Resource Rents

AbstractThe literature on the resource curse suggests that countries with large natural resource rents and weak institutions may experience rent seeking conflicts among different groups, potentially resulting in high inequality and welfare losses. While agricultural land has so far been categorized as a diffuse resource with low economic value, this categorization may no longer be appropriate, because demand for land is currently on the rise, and may continue to increase in the future. This study presents and discusses recent theoretical and empirical approaches to analyzing the effects of high-value agricultural land on rent seeking and rent distribution. Results suggest that the potential for small scale farmers to organize and obtain political power determines the extent of rent seeking and rent distribution, and that while more democratic institutions may increase the share of rents going to the farmers, they may have adverse welfare effects, because they may increase the competition for rents among groups, and hence the amount of resources spent on rent seeking.

Foreign Capital, Natural Resource Rents and Financial Development: A New Approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 097215092096136
Author(s):  
Muhammad Shahbaz ◽  
Mohammad Ali Aboutorabi ◽  
Farzaneh Ahmadian Yazdi
Keyword(s):  
Financial Development ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Foreign Capital ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Natural Resource Rents ◽  
Rich Countries ◽  
The Impact

This article explores the impact of financial development on the ‘natural resources rents–foreign capital accumulation nexus’ in selected natural resource–rich countries during 1970Q1–2016Q4. In doing so, we propose a new approach by applying the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) rolling regression technique for our empirical purpose. The results show that financial development has a positive and significant effect on the way natural resource rents affect foreign capital in the case of Australia, Chile, Ecuador, Egypt and Peru in both the short run and the long run. We achieve the same results in the case of Colombia and Iran too, but just in the long run. Also, short-term and long-term negative effects of financial development on the rents–foreign capital nexus are witnessed just in the case of Algeria. We provide some empirical evidence for further robustness of our findings. Finally, we suggest that there is a necessity for the development of the financial system in natural resource–rich countries to reach higher levels of foreign capital, which has a crucial role in their economic growth.

Growth Recoveries (from Collapses)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Francisco Meneses ◽  
José Luis Saboin
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Rate ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Exchange Rate Regime ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Financial Account ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Economic Collapse ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Natural Resource Rents

This paper analyzes the behavior of a long list of economic variables during episodes of recovery from an economic collapse. A set of stylized facts is proposed so as to depict what in this work is called \saygrowth recoveries. Through different estimation techniques, it is inferred under which conditions and policies the likelihood of experiencing a growth recovery increases. The results of the paper indicate that collapses tend to occur in countries with high dependence on natural resource rents, macroeconomic mismanagement, low levels of democratic accountability and rule of law and high levels of conflict. Recoveries, on the other hand, tend to be longer than collapses and are more likely to occur in contexts of: improved external conditions, less natural resource rents, balanced fiscal accounts, where the exchange rate corrects but within a more fixed exchange rate regime and a more restricted financial account, and where there are: rebounds in private consumption, increases in international trade and improvements on property rights.

Natural resource rents, political regimes and terrorism in Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 50-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazeem B. Ajide ◽  
Juliet I. Adenuga ◽  
Ibrahim D. Raheem
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Political Regimes ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Natural Resource Rents

Nigerian Governance Challenge: Exploring the Role of Natural Resource Rents

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-358
Author(s):  
Fisayo Fagbemi ◽  
Grace Omowumi Adeoye
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Causality Test ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Resource Wealth ◽  
Natural Resource Rents ◽  
Natural Resource Wealth

Nigeria is a glaring example of a country where weak public institutions are pervasive in spite of its huge natural resource wealth. The presence of natural resource abundance has exacerbated the overwhelming development challenge in the economy. While the upshot of most empirical findings of the resource impact covers how the growth path is determined through the channel of institutions, the question as to why resource rents often fail to stimulate improved governance is more critical than ever. Hence, the study examines the effect of natural resource rents on the quality of governance in Nigeria for the period 1984–2017, using ARDL bounds test approach, Dynamic Least Squares (DOLS), and Granger Causality test based on Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). Results reveal that natural resource rents have an insignificant effect on governance indicators in the long-run as well in the short-run, suggesting that natural resource windfalls have a shallow effect on the development of good governance. However, further evidence indicates that pervasive institutional gaps in Nigeria could be stimulated or caused by the overdependence on natural resource rents and entrenched mismanagement tendencies. Thus, the study suggests that maintaining strong political commitment, curtailing overdependence on natural resources, and ensuring sound management of natural resource wealth are central for improved governance.

No taxation, no representation: An investigation of the relationship between natural resources and fiscal decentralization

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 1234-1255
Author(s):  
Mohammad Arzaghi ◽  
Andrew Balthrop
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Fiscal Decentralization ◽  
Government Expenditures ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Natural Resource Rents ◽  
The Relationship

Rents from natural resources can alter the relationship between central and local governments by providing a new source of government financing. We develop a model to explore the relationship between fiscal decentralization and resource abundance. Our model indicates that natural resource rents can detach central government expenditures from the tax base so that the central government can spend more to persuade a fractious periphery to remain under central government control. Thus, other things being equal, higher natural resource rents can result in less decentralized government expenditures. We empirically explore the relationship between fiscal decentralization and natural resource rents using a panel of 60 countries over the past 40 years. Empirical results support our economic model: A 1% increase in natural resource rents as a fraction of gross domestic product results in government expenditures that are 0.53% less decentralized.

Nexus between total natural resource rents and public debt in resource-rich countries:A panel data analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 102276
Author(s):  
Gideon Minua Kwaku Ampofo ◽  
Cheng Jinhua ◽  
Philip Chukwunonso Bosah ◽  
Edwin Twum Ayimadu ◽  
Patrick Senadzo
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Public Debt ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Natural Resource Rents

scholarly journals Risks in the formation of collaboration alliance of the redistribution natural rental income

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 181-185
Author(s):  
Alexandr Telizhenko ◽  
Yuliia Halynska
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
The State ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Risk Minimization ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Natural Resource Rents

Researched and identified risks for the formation of collaboration alliance between the state, regions and extractive enterprises in the redistribution of natural resource rents. Focused attention on the negative consequences of reconciling the interests of the participants of collaboration alliance to form a risk minimization strategy and implementation collaboration alliances mechanism. Keywords: collaboration risks, social responsibility, rental income, natural resource rents. JEL Classification: M1

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