文档介绍：Mineral Resources and Economic Development*
Gavin Wright and Jesse Czelusta
Stanford University
October 2003
Prepared for the Conference on Sector Reform in Latin America
Stanford Center for International Development
November 13-15, 2003
Abstract
Recent studies assert that natural resource abundance (particularly minerals) has adverse
consequences for economic growth. This paper subjects this “resource curse” hypothesis to
critical scrutiny. Our central point is that it is inappropriate to equate development of mineral
resources with terms such as “windfalls” and “booms.” Contrary to the view of mineral
production as mere depletion of a fixed natural “endowment,” we show that so-called
“nonrenewable” resources have been progressively extended through exploration, technological
progress, and advances in appropriate (often country-specific) knowledge. Indeed, minerals
constitute a high-tech knowledge industry in many countries. Investment in such knowledge
should be seen as a ponent of a forward-looking economic development program.
* This paper draws upon our earlier paper, “Resource-Based Growth Past and Present,” prepared as a background
paper for the World Bank Latin American and Caribbean Regional Office report, From Natural Resources to the
Knowledge Economy (2002).
1
Many observers, including economists, believe that reliance on natural resources has
adverse consequences for economic growth. Richard M. Auty writes flatly: “[S]ince the 1960s,
the resource-poor countries have outperformed the resource-rich pared by a
considerable margin”(2001, p. 840). Although concern over the efficacy of resource-based
development is centuries old, the recent cycle begins with Sachs and Warner (1995, 1997), who
presented evidence of an inverse statistical relationship between natural resource based exports
(agriculture, minerals and fuels) and growth rates during the period 1970