The Contribution of Natural Resource Producing Sectors to the Economic Development of the Sakha Republic

This paper provides basic materials for considering the sustainability of natural resource development in the Arctic, taking the Sakha Republic as a case study of the Russian Arctic regions. The author clarifies the contribution of the mining industry to the economic development of Sakha with special attention paid to the contribution to government budgets by numerical and statistical analysis of regional and municipal data. The paper demonstrates that the mining industry has been a driving force of the economic growth of Sakha and that the oil sector has sharply increased its presence while the diamond sector has decreased its presence. Simultaneously, it reveals that the mining industry is unevenly developed in Sakha, which has caused significant inequality in per capita Gross Municipal Product (GMP). Then, the analysis of the paper shows that Sakha’s contribution to the federal budget has increased significantly in recent years due to growing oil production and that the diamond sector is still more influential than the oil sector in the contribution to the republican and local budgets.

Harnessing the Demographic Dividend in Africa Through Lessons From East Asia's Experience

Notably, East Asian Economies successfully capitalized on shifts in their age structures to gain a boost in economic productivity, a phenomenon known as the demographic dividend. Nowadays, despite the hitherto sluggish pace of Africa’s transition, experts remain optimistic that similar transformation in Africa may lead to faster development in coming decades. The paper attempts to answer the following three questions: (i) Can natural resource development help African economies harness its demographic dividend? (ii) as China forty years long, demographic dividend draws to an end, China is actively trying to capture fresh economic opportunities in higher-value-added productive activity. Can Africa seize this opportunity provided by its own emerging demographic dividend era? (iii) Can imitation game help African economies harness its demographic dividend? Arguably, for African economies to imitate the East Asian miracle and harness a maximum demographic dividend, they should adhere to these three mechanisms: labor supply, savings, and human capital.

Market Concentration and Natural Resource Development in Rural America

Natural resource development, both extractive (oil, gas, mining, timber) and non-extractive (tourism, real estate, outdoor recreation), has been found to negatively impact economic prosperity in rural America. One mechanism recently proposed for why this occurs is high levels of labor market concentration, or oligopsony. Oligopsony occurs when there are few employers within a labor market and can lead to suppressed wages and a power imbalance between employers and workers. In this paper, we test the moderating effect of labor market concentration on the relationship between natural resource development and per capita income and poverty in rural America from 2010 to 2016. By comparing results between extractive and non-extractive development, as well as manufacturing, we show that labor market power attenuates the beneficial relationship observed at low levels of specialization in natural resources—particularly for extractive forms of development. Further, by finding no significant relationship between manufacturing specialization and economic prosperity, nor any moderating effect of labor market concentration in the case of manufacturing, we demonstrate that natural resource development and labor market concentration have a unique relationship with rural American economic prosperity.

The Dual Dependency of Natural-Resource-Rich Labor Markets in Contemporary Society

This article presents an integrative theoretical framework of subnational natural resource dependence. I argue that rural natural resource dependence represents a special case of the core-periphery relationship, where rural, resource-rich labor markets form a dual dependency on both the global capitalist economy and the local natural environment. This occurs because the contradiction between spatially fixed natural resources and the mobility of capital prompts both external interests and local power elites to use their power to pressure rural labor markets in directions outside their best interest and to exploit rural labor. I argue that both extractive (e.g., mining, timber, agriculture) and nonextractive (e.g., tourism, real estate) forms of natural resource development share this contradiction. Although pushing different uses of the resource base, extractive and nonextractive development do not fundamentally vary in their exploitative relationship with rural labor markets.

Responder Needs Addressed by Arctic Maritime Oil Spill Modeling

There is a greater probability of more frequent and/or larger oil spills in the Arctic region due to increased maritime shipping and natural resource development. Accordingly, there is an increasing need for effective spilled-oil computer modeling to help emergency oil spill response decision makers, especially in waters where sea ice is present. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Response & Restoration (OR&R) provides scientific support to the U.S. Coast Guard Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) during oil spill response. OR&R’s modeling products must provide adequate spill trajectory predictions so that response efforts minimize economic, cultural, and ecologic impacts, including those to species, habitats, and food supplies. The Coastal Response Research Center is conducting a project entitled Oil Spill Modeling for Improved Response to Arctic Maritime Spills: The Path Forward, in conjunction with modelers, responders, and researchers. A goal of the project is to prioritize new investments in model and tool development to improve response effectiveness in the Arctic. The project delineated FOSC needs during Arctic maritime spill response and provided a solution communicating sources of uncertainty in model outputs using a Confidence Estimates of Oil Model Inputs and Outputs (CEOMIO) table. The table shows the level of confidence (high, medium, low) in a model’s trajectory prediction over scenario-specific time intervals and the contribution of different component inputs (e.g., temperature, wind, ice) to that result.

Consultations and Competing Claims: Implementing Participatory Institutions in Colombia’s Extractives Industries

Conflicts between local communities and their governments over natural resource development are not new in Latin America. When mining and oil companies move in, communities have blocked roads, staged protests, and undertaken other forms of direct action. More recently, however, communities have expanded their tactics, turning toward the state and its participatory institutions to contest claims over their land. This article investigates this trend and the conditions that facilitate it by analyzing an original database of 102 attempts by communities in Colombia to implement one participatory institution—the popular consultation—to challenge large scale extractive projects. I argue that communities’ ability to contest extractive projects by leveraging participatory institutions depends on the balance of power between two external players—private firms and expert allies.