Paper's abstract

Hervé & Cécile Lado & Renouard, Is There a Curse of Raw Materials ?
The "raw materials curse" allegedly suffered by some countries rich in natural resources is the expression used to describe the adverse effects of the emergence of a particularly profitable activity on the social, political and economic levels. The inflow of foreign currency and of additional income dismantles the social, political and economic insti-tutions and organizes them around the poaching of income from the secure business. It therefore supplants the less profitable sectors of activity, generating social pathologies and political instability, as in Nigeria . The countries that have escaped this curse , such as Netherlands , Norway or Botswana, are those who have managed to both limit the devastating effects of the rent on the structure of the economy by saving a portion of this additional income, and to support other sectors through appropriate incentives to maintain regional, sectoral and jobs’ diversification of the economy. The cases analyzed here are Norway and Nigeria, two countries facing the same problem of oil and gas but with contrasting performance. They suggest that a country with a wish to fight the raw material curse must rely on endogenous steady socio-economic institutions, maintained by a legitimate and inclusive governance system.

Key Words : raw materials, diversification, institutions, governance
t. 56, 2013 : p. 249-267

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