Outlier analysis: Natural resources and immigration policy

This replication underlines the importance of outlier diagnostics since many researchers have long neglected influential observations in OLS regression analysis. In his article, entitled “Primary Resources, Secondary Labor,” Shin finds that advanced democracies with increased natural resource wealth, particularly from oil and natural gas production, are more likely to restrict low-skill immigration policy. By performing outlier diagnostics, this replication shows that Shin’s findings are a statistical artifact. When one outlying country, Norway, is removed from the sample data, I observe almost no significant and negative relationship between oil wealth and immigration policy. When two outlying countries are excluded, the effect of oil wealth completely disappears. Robust regression analysis, a widely used remedial method for outlier problems, confirms the results of my outlier diagnostics.

The future of the Saudi Political System in Light of Internal Variables

Saudi Arabia enjoys a privileged position in the Middle East by virtue of its strategic position, and because of its political, economic and religious factors, as the Saudi political system was established in 1744 in accordance with a political-religious agreement between the Al Saud and the religious institution represented by the Wahhabi da'wa (Salafism), and continued to receive its legitimacy and support from it, tribalism also took an important aspect in maturity, and the expansion of the influence of this country until the oil wealth contributed to its development, and strengthened its relations with the outside world, which in turn casts an important aspect of maturity, and the expansion of the influence of this country until the oil wealth contributed to its development, and strengthened its relations with the outside world, which in turn casts an important aspect of maturity. In the importance of future studies that address topics related to Saudi domestic and external affairs, notably the issue of reform. The reform trends in Saudi Arabia coincided with its opening to the world specifically western countries in the early 1990s, and increased elitist and popular calls for reform, as well as a number of structural causes that reinforced the alliance between the political and religious institution that clearly controlled the social, political and civil life of the Kingdom. This study is concerned with the reform process in the Saudi political system by showing the future scenes of that process, and then relying on internal variables, and the study tries in the framework of its problem to answer a key question: where is the Saudi political system going in light of internal variables. The hypothesis of the study in the context of future studies is based on an optimistic scene that supports the success of the reform process in Saudi Arabia, and another pessimistic scene that believes that the political system in the Kingdom will remain the same, if not turn into a worse state than it is now.

Oil and Global Insecurity: Lessons from Asia, Latin America and African Oil Producing Countries

This paper critically digs into history to examine the role oil played in generating war among nations. It also examines conflicts and agitations within nations as well as regime-change in the global system with their attendant consequences on global security. The discovery of oil as a major source of energy for the running of military and civilian complexes the world over, has been a blessing and a curse. Oil as a commodity has contributed in no small measure to growth and development as it helps in turning the wheels necessary for industrialization. However, the search for oil over the years by nations of the world has engendered conflicts and full-fletched wars within and among nations due to antagonistic encounter of interests. Asian and African oil producing countries are the worst hit, as established powers sponsor proxy wars, change unfriendly regimes in the name of accessing abundant oil resources with all the security implications these portend. Within the oil producing states, agitations and rebellion are commonplace in oil producing regions. The governing elites see oil revenue as opportunity for primitive accumulation leaving the people in oil producing regions in extreme poverty and deprivation in the midst of abundant wealth. The frustration and agony of the people find expression in violence and counter violence by the state reducing the oil regions to theaters of conflicts and security crises. The paper however, concluded and recommended that; oil search by the established and emerging powers should be carried out within the confines of the law. Oil producing states deserve to be respected by the international community to utilize their resources for the development of their people. There must not be interference in their internal affairs. Again, the governing elites should develop strategies for equitably distributing oil wealth among the various stake holders within the oil producing states so as to nib rebellion in the bud for the sake of international peace and security.

Sustainable Development in Ghana's Petroleum Industry: An Analysis of the Resource Curse

According to the ‘resource curse,’ countries with large endowments of natural resources perform worse than countries who are less endowed. So while Ghana’s recent oil discovery presents tremendous opportunities to assist in poverty alleviation, this so called curse has been unfortunately attributed to economic decline, democratic breakdown, environmental degradation, and civil unrest. Therefore this thesis seeks to evaluate Ghana’s preparedness in dealing with effects of new oil wealth and the impacts of oil exploitation on its environment and society. Interviews with members of civil society organisations, NGOs and government personnel revealed tremendous deficits and constraints in environmental protection, the rule of law, and political will; all of which will be further challenged by the onset of oil development in Ghana. Observations from interviewees, as well as the findings of contextual research provide the foundation for the goal of the research, which is to understand how prepared Ghana is to manage its future petroleum industry so that it encompasses environmental stewardship, economic development and social responsibility.

Sustainable Development in Ghana's Petroleum Industry: An Analysis of the Resource Curse

According to the ‘resource curse,’ countries with large endowments of natural resources perform worse than countries who are less endowed. So while Ghana’s recent oil discovery presents tremendous opportunities to assist in poverty alleviation, this so called curse has been unfortunately attributed to economic decline, democratic breakdown, environmental degradation, and civil unrest. Therefore this thesis seeks to evaluate Ghana’s preparedness in dealing with effects of new oil wealth and the impacts of oil exploitation on its environment and society. Interviews with members of civil society organisations, NGOs and government personnel revealed tremendous deficits and constraints in environmental protection, the rule of law, and political will; all of which will be further challenged by the onset of oil development in Ghana. Observations from interviewees, as well as the findings of contextual research provide the foundation for the goal of the research, which is to understand how prepared Ghana is to manage its future petroleum industry so that it encompasses environmental stewardship, economic development and social responsibility.

Restructuring towards Sustainable Development: The Role Corporate Social Responsibility Should Play in the Development of the Niger Delta Region

The oil rich Niger Delta region is host to several big corporations that are involved in the exploration and extraction of her oil. Right from 1958 when oil was first exported in commercial quantity, the region has continued to play significant role in the budgetary calculation of Nigeria. However, despite its oil wealth, the Niger Delta is largely underdeveloped as its environment have been impacted negatively by the activities of oil multinationals and ignored by successive governments. Over the years, conflicts and oil theft have also affected its development. This is in spite of oil companies affirmed commitment to corporate social behavior. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been used to measure a company developmental commitment to host communities and it is a well settled argument that companies have a role to play no matter how minimal, either to mitigate the impacts of their activities or to enhance local participation. This paper attempts to look at how effective oil multinationals CSR is in the region, in the wake of increased spate of violence, social activism and massive environmental degradation. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental Responsibility, Niger Delta

Restructuring and Automation of Security Model for Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Nigeria has on daily basis experienced an upsurge of activities that threatens and endangers its national security. In recent times, the Nigerian nation suddenly metamorphosed into an abode of insecurity. Security is presently a major challenge in Nigeria especially in Northern Nigeria. Nigerians and non-Nigerians are killed on daily basis and in their numbers even the United Nations building and the Police Headquarters at the Federal Capital were bombed. Though the government claims to be on top of the situation, the problem persists. Despite its abundant oil wealth, there has been unimaginable level of lack of infrastructure, automated security amenities and negligible development generally. One of the major setbacks to development in Nigeria is insecurity. Until very recently, plethora of explanations on the crawling pace of development in Nigeria tends to pay infinitesimal attention to the centrality of security to national development. It is no surprise therefore that since 1999 when Nigeria returned to civil rule insecurity tends to have hampered national development. Security is evidently the pillar upon which every meaningful development could be achieved and sustained. In view of this scenario, the paper basically analyses and recommends ways of ascertaining the impact of automated and improved security model for sustainable development in Nigeria. It therefore concludes and recommends amongst others, the formulation and effective implementation of policies capable of addressing the root causes of insecurity in Nigeria. Keywords: Restructuring, Automation, Security Model, Development.

An analysis and measurement of the effect of changes in public revenues on selected macro variables of the Iraqi economy from 2008 to 2021

Public revenues determine the extent to which governments finance their public spending and development programs. Also it is known that the fluctuations of these revenues have negative effects on the overall economic life of any economy, regardless of its development level and structural diversity, and, accordingly, changes in public revenues (especially oil ones) in the economy. The research seeks to demonstrate the impact of that change on those variables, since the research shows the dominance of oil revenues on total public revenues, which indicates the extent of the structural imbalance in the structure of exports to the Iraqi economy, along with a significant weakness of other sources in the formation of public revenues in the period between 2008 and 2021. The research also highlights a need for the government to develop a clear strategy aimed at managing and allocating oil wealth optimally according to a well-studied economic vision in order to reduce the structural distortion that the national economy suffers from, with an emphasis on the need to work on complementing oil revenues with reconstruction and developing the real economy and to diversify sources of income in the economy in order not to depend on oil exports to finance the general budget and control inflation rates.

Reverse Causality between Oil Policy and Fiscal Policy?: The Venezuelan Experience

This paper uses a model of intergenerational accounting to simulate the intergenerational distribution of oil wealth in Venezuela. Venezuelan oil production does not seem to follow an optimal extraction path. Nevertheless, this is true if we do not consider what the government does with the resources received from the oil sector. In this paper we explored the interaction of oil policy and fiscal policy using an intergeneration accounting model. We found that these interactions could explain certain outcomes. In particular, the model could explain why the sector was open for investment in 1991 and then “re-nationalized” in 2001. Results suggest that when fiscal policy could leave an important burden to future generations, voters seem to favor a more tax oriented oil policy, leaving the oil in the subsoil.