TY  - JOUR
AU  - Sachs,Jeffrey D.
AU  - Warner,Andrew M.
TI  - Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5398
PY  - 1995
Y2  - December 1995
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5398
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5398.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jeffrey D. Sachs
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
314 Low Library
535 West 116th Street, MC 4327
New York, NY  10027
Tel: 212/854-8704
Fax: 212/854-8702
E-Mail: sachs@columbia.edu

Andrew Warner
Andrew M. Warner
Deputy Chief Economist
Millennium Challenge Corporation
1200 N. Hartford Street Apt 302
Arlington VA 22201
Tel: 202-521-3656
E-Mail: warneram@mcc.gov
AB  - One of the surprising features of modern economic growth is that economies with abundant natural resources have tended to grow less rapidly than natural-resource-scarce economies.  In this paper we show that economies with a high ratio of natural resource exports to GDP in 1971 (the base year) tended to have low growth rates during the subsequent period 1971-89.  This negative relationship holds true even after controlling for variables found to be important for economic growth, such as initial per capita income, trade policy, government efficiency, investment rates, and other variables.  We explore the possible pathways for this negative relationship by studying the cross-country effects of resource endowments on trade policy, bureaucratic efficiency, and other determinants of growth.  We also provide a simple theoretical model of endogenous growth that might help to explain the observed negative relationship.
ER  -