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 Baloch Insurgency in Pakistan and the Chinese Connection

This article examines the interplay between big ticket investment projects financed by the Chinese capital and ethno-nationalism in the province of Balochistan. It argues that the growing Chinese presence in Balochistan has provided a new impetus to an already simmering Baloch nationalist resistance. Balochistan has profuse natural resource wealth, yet its riches have not benefited its people. The Baloch are one of the most deprived communities in Pakistan. Successive central governments have exploited the province’s resources in the name of development to the detriment of its inhabitants. The advent of CPEC (China–Pakistan Economic Corridor) has exacerbated Baloch grievances. They believe that mega-development projects like Gwadar port would impinge adversely on local demography by attracting a huge influx of economic migrants and render the Baloch minority in their own land. The insurgent groups view China as a ‚partner in crime‘ and have responded by selectively targeting Chinese assets and personnel. The article analyses the nature of resistance to Chinese presence and the changing modus of insurgent groups. It argues that Islamabad’s attempts to deter the attacks by intensifying the militarisation of the province are counterproductive as they reinforce Baloch opposition to CPEC.

Balúčské povstání v Pákistánu a souvislost s Čínou

This article examines the interplay between big ticket investment projects financed by the Chinese capital and ethno-nationalism in the province of Balochistan. It argues that the growing Chinese presence in Balochistan has provided a new impetus to an already simmering Baloch nationalist resistance. Balochistan has profuse natural resource wealth, yet its riches have not benefited its people. The Baloch are one of the most deprived communities in Pakistan. Successive central governments have exploited the province’s resources in the name of development to the detriment of its inhabitants. The advent of CPEC (China–Pakistan Economic Corridor) has exacerbated Baloch grievances. They believe that mega-development projects like Gwadar port would impinge adversely on local demography by attracting a huge influx of economic migrants and render the Baloch minority in their own land. The insurgent groups view China as a ‚partner in crime‘ and have responded by selectively targeting Chinese assets and personnel. The article analyses the nature of resistance to Chinese presence and the changing modus of insurgent groups. It argues that Islamabad’s attempts to deter the attacks by intensifying the militarisation of the province are counterproductive as they reinforce Baloch opposition to CPEC.

Islamic Constitutions and Democracy

There is an ongoing debate on the relationship between Islam and (lack of) democracy. Considerable literature shows that Islam, represented as an informal institution by Muslim population share, has a negative effect on democracy. This study examines the effects of formal institutions, specifically constitutions that prescribe Islamic law ( Shari’a) as a source of legislation, on democracy. We use a newly developed coding of the degree to which Islam is incorporated in constitutions. Our empirical results show that the constitutional entrenchment of Islamic law has a negative and significant effect on democracy. Our findings are robust to using different estimators and instrumental variable regressions, employing alternative measures of democracy and controlling for Muslim population, natural resource wealth, and additional control variables. While we show that Islamic constitutionalism is a reason for a democracy deficit in Muslim-majority countries, we find no evidence that Islam is inimical to democracy when not entrenched in the constitution.

Tourism and education in formation of the human capital agency

The article is devoted to the issue of mainstreaming the reflexion and the practical use of the educational potential of tourism in the current conditions of societal crisis. The major thesis of the article is that the unique characteristics of the tourism in the context of systemic transformations are crucial for the formation of agency/subjectivity as well as responsible spontaneous nature of human capital. The article emphasises the role of the tourism sector for solving modern historical problems of revising and optimising, as humanisation and elevation, the resource wealth of the human person. The functions of tourism practices that use the specifics of location (nature, personnel, history) to solve global problems via cooperation, especially in the context of technological, biological, and environmental challenges of anthroposociogenesis, are being investigated and reconciled for the sustainable development of society under global risks and uncertainty. Particular attention is paid to the fact that the cultural characteristics of social space are constituted and, at the same time, constitute its symbolic character through communication.

Natural resource wealth and the informal economy

The ‘resource curse’ associated with natural resource abundance has long been a subject of study across multiple disciplines. Though much research has focused on possible effects of resource wealth on the formal economy, little is known about how such wealth affects the informal sector, a substantial portion of global economic activity. We posit that resource windfalls directly contribute to growth in the informal economy, as investment and spending patterns associated with such revenues limit opportunities within the formal sector and thus channel more labor and businesses into the informal sector. We test these claims across a panel of over 120 countries for the period 1985 to 2012. Across multiple model specifications, we find that resource wealth growth is associated with increased informal economic activity.