FOI Seminar 16 March 2011

Sevil Acar Aytekin (Marmara University Istanbul and CERE-Umeå):

 

Natural Resource Abundance, Sustainability and Human Development

(contact: )

 

Wednesday 16 March 2011, 12.30-13.30 Building A, seminar room 1

Abstract:
The paradox that natural resources give rise to ill effects in most of the economies endowed with them has been proven for many countries when economic growth and other macroeconomic outcomes are considered. However, how different types of natural resources affects sustainability and human development has not attracted enough attention yet. This study contributes to the emerging literature on the links between natural resource wealth, genuine savings as an indicator of sustainability and human development. I use yearly genuine saving rates for a panel of countries calculated by the World Bank and find that fuel exports have significant and negative impact on sustainability. Higher institutional quality mitigates the negative effect in some of the model specifications. Regarding human development, the analysis demonstrates that exports of agricultural raw materials is associated with significant deterioration in human development, while the impact of extractive resource exports, such as energy and minerals, depends on the model specification.