Publications /
Policy Paper

Back
Download PDF
Managing Natural Resources for Growth and Prosperity in Low Income Countries
Authors
Hinh T. Dinh
Russel Dinh
January 28, 2016
Related topics: 

This paper reviews the economic impact of natural resources on low-income countries and the policy options available to them as recommended by academia and international organizations. We find that traditional policy prescriptions are unrealistic and miss a number of issues that include what to do when resources are depleted, job creation for growth and prosperity, and heterogeneity in country conditions. The paper proposes to reconcile these problems by advocating a strategy based on new structural economics, with a special focus on economic growth and job creation using the proceeds of natural resources. This approach combines “learning by doing” with targeted public investment in order to develop infrastructure and human capital. For many low-income countries, development of simple, labor-intensive light manufacturing is the recommended path. This recommendation is elaborated in a case study of South Sudan, a poor, resource-rich country in Africa.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Global imbalances and currency bullying
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    August 6, 2018
    The IMF released last July 24 its latest assessments of the current account balances for the 30 largest economies in its External Sector Report 2018 (ESR). There was no major change in 2017 relative to previous years and the reconfiguration of surpluses and deficits that has prevailed since 2013 was essentially extended. However, there are reasons to expect more abrupt alterations ahead, as the U.S. fiscal easing under high employment conditions unfolds. Given the context of ongoing ...
  • Download PDF
    China’s Economic Statecraft in Africa
    Authors
    Hisham Aidi
    August 6, 2018
    Africa, preeminent recipient of Chinese aid, has benefited greatly from Chinese low-rate loans, infrastructure projects and trade relations. Consequently, these massive investments cause analysts to question whether this Chinese expansionism constitutes a new form of colonialism. The author examines the different economic intervention tools of Beijing, the Chinese capital’s economic engagement in the continent, and the long-term strategy of China in Africa. He also addresses approv ...
  • Chinese Trash Refusal and its Consequences: A Wake-up Call for the World
    Authors
    Helmut Sorge
    August 1, 2018
    “A WAKE UP CALL FOR THE WORLD” For Simon Elin, chief executive of the British Recycling Association, it’s “a tough time” his industry and country are facing just now. He does not think about Brexit, Britain trying to leave the E.U., dreaming to return to glorious times as a world power, one day soon. His colleague Arnaud Brunet, head of the Bureau of International Recycling, predicted “catastrophic environmental problems.” An assessment the London Times shared: “The world is drowni ...
  • Download PDF
    L’Inde et le Maghreb
    Authors
    Abdallah Saaf
    August 1, 2018
    Dans cette minutieuse analyse des relations entre les pays du Maghreb et l’Inde, pays/continent, désormais classé au rang de 7ème puissance économique mondiale, appel est fait à plusieurs disciplines. De la politique, aux relations internationales, à l’économie et au commerce, en passant par l’histoire. Le résultat est ce tableau de bord/panorama qui renseigne à la fois sur les atouts dont dispose chacun des partenaires mais, aussi, sur les désaccords qui se font jour entre ces dern ...
  • Food Security in Morocco and India: Different Challenges for Joint Answers?
    Authors
    Ihssane Guennoun
    August 1, 2018
    “This article has been originally published in 'Morocco in Focus 2018,' the magazine of the Moroccan Embassy in New Delhi, India on the occasion of the Morocco National Day 2018.” Introduction In an article published last year, the author stressed the role of partnership between Morocco and India for the inclusive growth of small farmers. There is no doubt that agriculture remains a major instrument for human development both in India and in Africa. Several international reports h ...
  • Download PDF
    Tendances et cyclicité du prix des matières premières (partie 2) : le super-cycle des matières premières en question
    Authors
    Yves Jégourel
    August 1, 2018
    Comme le rappelle le Policy brief 17/32 consacré en large part à l’hypothèse dite de « Prebisch-Singer », la dynamique du prix des matières premières se décompose en tendance de très long terme, en cycle et en instabilité (volatilité) à court terme (Jacks, 2013)1 . La flambée du cours des matières premières sur la période 2002-2012 avait, dans cette perspective, conduit nombre d’observateurs à évoquer l’existence d’un « super-cycle » alimenté par la hausse structurelle de la demande ...
  • Les quatre premiers mois d'Abiy Ahmed Ali : bilan intérieur et extérieur
    Authors
    Tristan Coloma
    Benjamin Augé
    July 27, 2018
    Arrivé au pouvoir le 2 avril 2018, le premier ministre Ethiopien Abiy Ahmed Ali, issu de la majorité oromo, a été imposé à une minorité tigréenne ayant cadenassé les postes à la tête de l'Etat, depuis la domination politique de la coalition de l'Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) en 1991. Chef de l'Oromia Urban Development and Housing Bureau en charge des programmes de construction dans sa région, ainsi que vice-président de cette région peuplée de plus de 30 ...
  • An even greater threat than climate change
    Authors
    Helmut Sorge
    July 26, 2018
    The lion roared. A thunderous, gut-freezing roar. Followed by a ferocious growl, just to make sure that the adrenaline would reach explosive heights. Again, the thunderstorm effect, menacing, rumbling in the distance. This was a different storm. I could see the massive head. Its contour. Did I notice the eyes, yellow and green? A lion. Male and twenty yards away. Covered by a dense, green, bush. Since I am an admirer of Hemingway’s adventures, I was aware that the author estimated t ...
  • Download PDF
    An Effective Technology Transfer System
    Authors
    Isabelle Tsakok
    July 23, 2018
    Why do farmers need access to newer technologies on a recurrent basis? Most subsistence farmers already know how to farm and undertake post-harvest processing from their parents. The main reason to turn to technology is that traditional techniques for subsistence agriculture are grossly insufficient when it comes to generating the productivity and output growth required to adequately lift millions out of poverty and keep them out of it. “Efficient but poor” as Schultz (1964:37) put ...
  • Download PDF
    Adjustment Is Back: The Political and Financial Crisis in Central African Oil-Producing Countries | Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville
    Authors
    François Gaulme
    July 20, 2018
    This paper aims to highlight both the financial, economic and political adjustment cycle, affecting two Central African petro-states, Gabon and the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville). These two countries, linked by their rentier economic system and their common colonial history, have nevertheless experienced different political fates after independence, with the former maintaining a special relationship with France, while the latter quickly opted for Marxism. In the 1980s and 199 ...