IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v74y2021ics030142072100372x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

New oil discoveries in Guyana since 2015: Resource curse or resource blessing

Author

Listed:
  • McDonald, Lewis
  • Üngör, Murat

Abstract

In May 2015, ExxonMobil announced the discovery of significant amounts of oil offshore Guyana. It has been argued that these new oil discoveries could boost Guyana's gross domestic product significantly. However, the discovery is not exclusively positive news – it demands some caution. We apply a contemporary understanding of oil curse effects to economic and political facets of Guyana and establish a set of conditions through which Guyana will be able to realise the potential of its resource wealth. Among these conditions are the development of women's involvement in the economy and in politics; and that oil wealth is properly reinvested and competitivity in other export sectors is maintained.

Suggested Citation

  • McDonald, Lewis & Üngör, Murat, 2021. "New oil discoveries in Guyana since 2015: Resource curse or resource blessing," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:74:y:2021:i:c:s030142072100372x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102363
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142072100372X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102363?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. L. Rachel Ngai & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "Gender Gaps and the Rise of the Service Economy," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 1-44, October.
    2. Bjørnland, Hilde C. & Thorsrud, Leif Anders & Torvik, Ragnar, 2019. "Dutch disease dynamics reconsidered," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 411-433.
    3. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2016. "The Evolution of Gender Gaps in Industrialized Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 405-434, October.
    4. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew M. Warner, 1995. "Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 5398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Stephan E. Maurer & Andrei V. Potlogea, 2021. "Male‐biased Demand Shocks and Women's Labour Force Participation: Evidence from Large Oil Field Discoveries," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(349), pages 167-188, January.
    6. John Hartwick, 1977. "Intergenerational Equity and the Investment of Rents from Exhaustible Resources in a Two Sector Model," Working Paper 281, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    7. Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Tarverdi, Yashar, 2019. "Oil and women: A re-examination," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 191-200.
    8. Gavin Hilson & Tim Laing, 2017. "Guyana Gold: A Unique Resource Curse?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 229-248, February.
    9. Treisman, Daniel, 2000. "The causes of corruption: a cross-national study," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 399-457, June.
    10. Kotsadam, Andreas & Tolonen, Anja, 2016. "African Mining, Gender, and Local Employment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 325-339.
    11. Glenn-Marie Lange & Quentin Wodon & Kevin Carey, 2018. "The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 29001.
    12. Corden, W M, 1984. "Booming Sector and Dutch Disease Economics: Survey and Consolidation," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(3), pages 359-380, November.
    13. Auty, R. & Warhurst, A., 1993. "Sustainable development in mineral exporting economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 14-29, March.
    14. Vicente, Pedro C., 2010. "Does oil corrupt? Evidence from a natural experiment in West Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 28-38, May.
    15. Hartwick, John M, 1977. "Intergenerational Equity and the Investing of Rents from Exhaustible Resources," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(5), pages 972-974, December.
    16. Kirk Hamilton & Giovanni Ruta & Liaila Tajibaeva, 2006. "Capital Accumulation and Resource Depletion: A Hartwick Rule Counterfactual," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 34(4), pages 517-533, August.
    17. Laing, Timothy, 2019. "Small man goes where the large fears to tread: Mining in Guyana: 1990-2018," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    18. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2016. "The Evolution of Gender Gaps in Industrialized Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 405-434, October.
    19. Corden, W M, 1981. "The Exchange Rate, Monetary Policy and North Sea Oil: The Economic Theory of the Squeeze on Tradeables," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(0), pages 23-46, Supplemen.
    20. Murat Üngör & M. Koray Kalafatcılar, 2014. "Productivity, Demographics, and Growth in Turkey: 2004-12," Ekonomi-tek - International Economics Journal, Turkish Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 23-56, January.
    21. Mahdi Majbouri, 2017. "Oil, Laws, and Female Labor Force Participation," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 23(1), pages 91-106, February.
    22. Ross, Michael L., 2008. "Oil, Islam, and Women," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 102(1), pages 107-123, February.
    23. Corden, W Max & Neary, J Peter, 1982. "Booming Sector and De-Industrialisation in a Small Open Economy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(368), pages 825-848, December.
    24. Aragón, Fernando M. & Rud, Juan Pablo & Toews, Gerhard, 2018. "Resource shocks, employment, and gender: Evidence from the collapse of the UK coal industry," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 54-67.
    25. Paolo Mauro, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Al-Shboul, Mohammad & Al Rawashdeh, Rami, 2022. "The impact of institutional quality and resources rent on health: The case of GCC," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Destek, Gamze & Hossain, Mohammad Razib & Aydın, Sercan & Destek, Mehmet Akif, 2023. "Can the resource curse be reversed through financialization, human capital, and institutional quality? Evidence from Sustainable Development Index," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bennett, Patrick & Ravetti, Chiara & Wong, Po Yin, 2021. "Losing in a boom: Long-term consequences of a local economic shock for female labour market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. van Krevel, Charan & Peters, Marlou, 2024. "How natural resource rents, exports, and government resource revenues determine Genuine Savings: Causal evidence from oil, gas, and coal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    3. Almutairi, Najla Tharman, 2022. "Does oil wealth matter to female labour force participation: New evidence from the oil-intensive economy of Saudi Arabia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2011. "Natural Resources: Curse or Blessing?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 366-420, June.
    5. Jing Vivian Zhan, 2017. "Do Natural Resources Breed Corruption? Evidence from China," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 66(2), pages 237-259, February.
    6. Stephan E. Maurer & Andrei V. Potlogea, 2021. "Male‐biased Demand Shocks and Women's Labour Force Participation: Evidence from Large Oil Field Discoveries," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(349), pages 167-188, January.
    7. Elkhan Richard Sadik-Zada & Wilhelm Loewenstein & Yadulla Hasanli, 2019. "Commodity Revenues, Agricultural Sector and the Magnitude of Deindustrialization: A Novel Multisector Perspective," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-15, November.
    8. Osiris Jorge Parcero & Elissaios Papyrakis, 2024. "Income inequality and the oil resource curse," Papers 2401.04046, arXiv.org.
    9. Bhattacharyya, Sambit & Hodler, Roland, 2010. "Natural resources, democracy and corruption," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 608-621, May.
    10. Michel Beine & Serge Coulombe & Wessel N. Vermeulen, 2015. "Dutch Disease and the Mitigation Effect of Migration: Evidence from Canadian Provinces," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(589), pages 1574-1615, December.
    11. Haqiqi, Iman & Aghanazari, Hasan & Sharzei, Gholamali, 2013. "Natural Resources Revenue Allocation: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Approach," MPRA Paper 95785, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Nhabinde, Simeão & Heshmati, Almas, 2020. "The Extractive Industry’s impact on Economic Growth in SADC Countries," GLO Discussion Paper Series 656, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Orihuela, José Carlos & Gamarra-Echenique, Victor, 2020. "Fading local effects: boom and bust evidence from a Peruvian gold mine," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(2), pages 182-203, April.
    14. Michaels, Guy, 2010. "Challenges for research on resource-rich economies," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 55256, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Aguilar-Gomez, Sandra & Benshaul-Tolonen, Anja, 2023. "The evolution and persistence of women's roles: Evidence from the Gold Rush," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 364-381.
    16. repec:ocp:rpaper:rp-0524 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Elkhan Richard Sadik-Zada, 2021. "Addressing the growth and employment effects of the extractive industries: white and black box illustrations from Kazakhstan," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 402-434, May.
    18. Parcero, Osiris J. & Papyrakis, Elissaios, 2016. "Income inequality and the oil resource curse," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 159-177.
    19. Adrian Boos & Karin Holm‐Müller, 2012. "A theoretical overview of the relationship between the resource curse and genuine savings as an indicator for “weak” sustainability," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(3), pages 145-159, August.
    20. Awoa Awoa, Paul & Atangana Ondoa, Henri & Ngoa Tabi, Henri, 2022. "Women's political empowerment and natural resource curse in developing countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    21. Barbier,Edward B., 2007. "Natural Resources and Economic Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521706513.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Guyana; Oil boom; Oil curse; Female employment; Hartwick rule;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development
    • Q33 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Resource Booms (Dutch Disease)
    • Q34 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Natural Resources and Domestic and International Conflicts

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:74:y:2021:i:c:s030142072100372x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.