Natural Resources and Economic Development

✍ Scribed by Edward B. Barbier

• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 428
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Why is natural resource exploitation not yielding greater benefits to the poor economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America? This book's historical review of resource use and development examines current theories explaining under-performance of today's resource-abundant economies. After developing models to analyze the key economic factors underlying land expansion and water use in developing countries, Edward Barbier explores their resource dependency, rural poverty and resource degradation and proposes reforms for successful resource-based development.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Figures......Page 10
Tables......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 15
Introduction......Page 19
1 Natural resources and developing countries: an overview......Page 29
Natural capital and sustainable development......Page 32
Growth, environment and the EKC......Page 35
Natural capital and developing economies: some "stylized facts"......Page 41
Stylized fact one: the majority of low and middle-income countries are highly dependent on primary product exports......Page 42
Stylized fact two: resource dependency in low and middle-income countries is associated with poor economic performance......Page 50
Stylized fact three: development in low and middle-income economies is associated with increased land conversion.........Page 52
Stylized fact four: a significant share of the population in low and middle-income economies is concentrated on fragile lands......Page 58
Final remarks......Page 63
Notes......Page 65
2 Natural resource-based economic development in history......Page 69
The agricultural transition (from 8500 BC to 1 AD)......Page 71
The era of Malthusian stagnation (from 1 AD to 1000)......Page 79
The emergence of the world economy (from 1000 to 1500)......Page 85
The Great Frontier and the rise of Western Europe (from 1500 to 1913)......Page 94
The Atlantic economy triangular trade (from 1500 to 1860)......Page 96
The Golden Age of Resource-Based Development (from 1870 to 1913)......Page 99
Center-periphery trade, resource dependency and unequal development (from 1918 to the present)......Page 108
The colonial origins of comparative development (from 1500 to the present)......Page 112
Conclusion......Page 116
Notes......Page 117
3 Does natural resource dependence hinder economic development?......Page 126
The resource curse hypothesis......Page 128
The open access exploitation hypothesis......Page 140
Factor endowment hypothesis......Page 152
Reinvesting the rents from natural capital......Page 158
Conclusion......Page 166
Notes......Page 169
4 Frontier expansion and economic development......Page 173
Resource-based development and frontier expansion......Page 175
Frontier expansion and economic performance: a simple test......Page 180
The frontier expansion hypothesis......Page 183
A model of frontier expansion in a small open economy......Page 186
Final remarks......Page 197
Optimal frontier expansion paths......Page 195
Appendix to Chapter 4......Page 199
Notes......Page 200
5 Explaining land use change in developing countries......Page 203
Global tropical deforestation and land use trends......Page 204
Factors determining agricultural land expansion......Page 207
A synthesis model......Page 212
Conclusion......Page 221
Notes......Page 223
6 The economics of land conversion......Page 227
Institutional constraints and forest conversion......Page 229
A pure open access model of land conversion......Page 230
Institutional constraints and land conversion......Page 233
Case study 1: agricultural land expansion in pre-NAFTA Mexico......Page 236
Case study 2: shrimp farm expansion and mangrove loss in Thailand......Page 241
Final remarks......Page 254
Notes......Page 255
7 Does water availability constrain economic development?......Page 260
A problem of global water scarcity?......Page 261
A model of water use and economic growth......Page 262
Cross-country empirical analysis of water and growth......Page 271
Implications for global water scarcity......Page 280
Case study: Hadejia-Jama'are river basin, Northern Nigeria......Page 282
Final remarks......Page 295
Notes......Page 297
8 Rural poverty and resource degradation......Page 304
The "dualism within dualism" pattern of resource use......Page 306
Rent-seeking and resource wealth......Page 313
Inequality, poverty and resource degradation......Page 319
The "assetless" poor, rural labor employment and resource degradation......Page 327
Final remarks: implications for resource-based development......Page 333
Notes......Page 335
9 Can frontier-based development be successful?......Page 339
Frontier expansion and successful resource-based development revisited......Page 341
The small open economy model revisited......Page 344
The social planner's problem......Page 349
Equilibrium in the decentralized economy......Page 354
Policy implications......Page 355
Final remarks......Page 357
Notes......Page 360
10 Policies for sustainable resource-based development in poor economies......Page 362
Policies and institutions for successful resource-based development: an overview......Page 365
Reinvesting resource rents: Malaysia and Thailand......Page 372
Malaysia......Page 374
Thailand......Page 379
Sound policies and good institutions: Botswana......Page 382
Final remarks......Page 386
Note......Page 390
References......Page 391
Index......Page 419