Author Archives: Sambit Bhattacharyya

Mining and Growth in Africa

By Sambit Bhattacharyya, Nemera Mamo, Alexander Moradi – University of Sussex Living standards appear to have improved in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last two decades, mainly riding on the back of relatively high global commodity prices. For example, Figure 2 … Continue reading

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To What Extent Resource Discovery Influences the Politics of Fiscal Decentralization

“North Sea oil and gas reserves are another matter of much dispute. Mr Salmond says an independent Scotland would earmark a tenth of revenues – which the Yes campaign puts at about £1bn a year – to form a Norwegian-style … Continue reading

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Natural Resources and Conflict in Africa: Isolating Facts from Fiction

The Causality Question Evolutionary biologists have long argued that competition over scarce natural resources is one of the key drivers of violent conflict within and across species. The competition in Africa appears to be over the revenue generated from scarce … Continue reading

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What is the impact of natural resource booms on income inequality? Some lessons from Australia

Commodity price shocks can have powerful but unequal effects on labour, capital and land. A large literature, often referred to as the ‘Dutch Disease’ literature, documents the effects of these commodity booms on factors of production. An increase in global … Continue reading

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