Why Does Development Fail in Resource Rich Economies

<p>There has been a lot of interest within the scientific and policy communities in the ‘resource curse’; that is the tendency of mineral rich economies to turn into development failures. Yet after more than 20 years of intensive research and action ‘the curse’ still lingers as a very real global problem because of volatile mineral prices bad governance and conflict. </p><p>This book incorporates current original research on the resource curse (from some of the most prominent contributors to this literature) combined with a critical reflection on the current stock of knowledge. It is a unique attempt to provide a more holistic and interdisciplinary picture of the resource curse and its multi-scale effects. This edited volume reflects the current academic diversity that characterises the resource curse literature with a mix of different methodological approaches (both quantitative and qualitative analyses) and a diverse geographical focus (Latin America Sub-Saharan Africa global). Taken together the studies emphasize the complexities and conditionalities of the ‘curse’ – its presence/intensity being largely context-specific depending on the type of resources socio-political institutions and linkages with the rest of the economy and society. This book was originally published as a special issue of the <i>Journal of Development Studies. </i></p>