While I certainly believe this article makes many good points that the
causality of the underdevelopment of Africa countries is often too simply
explained as a resource curse issue, I believe that at the very least
resource wealth can become an accelerating factor interacting with other
factors discussed in this well written article:
1) The influx of foreign currency leads to strengthening of the local
currency making local producers of other goods less competitive and imports
more competitive. It has documented that in many cases the growth of an
extractive industry has seen the decline of many other domestic industries.
2) The easy money associated with resource wealth can:
a) Enable a government that is already inclined to not answer to its’ own
people to become worse.
b) The leadership in can more easily neglect to develop its’ most valuable
resource: human capital.
c) Increase the temptation of corruption and when combined with foreign
actors pursuing their own self interest this can become an unholy alliance.
3) Internal wars would exist without the mineral wealth but the cash these
resources allow to be raised plus the addition of bad foreign actors
pursuing their own selfish interest certainly tend to make these wars more
protracted, disruptive and bloody.
4) Ethnic conflict is the result of many factors however resources when
they are disproportional controlled by one ethnic group can make the
problem worse.
The question may be how can this is issue be better managed so that
resource wealth does not become an additional toxic chemical added to all
of issues the countries in question face?
While I certainly believe this article makes many good points that the causality of the underdevelopment of Africa countries is often too simply explained as a resource curse issue, I believe that at the very least resource wealth can become an accelerating factor interacting with other factors discussed in this well written article: 1) The influx of foreign currency leads to strengthening of the local currency making local producers of other goods less competitive and imports more competitive. It has documented that in many cases the growth of an extractive industry has seen the decline of many other domestic industries.
2) The easy money associated with resource wealth can: a) Enable a government that is already inclined to not answer to its’ own people to become worse. b) The leadership in can more easily neglect to develop its’ most valuable resource: human capital. c) Increase the temptation of corruption and when combined with foreign actors pursuing their own self interest this can become an unholy alliance. 3) Internal wars would exist without the mineral wealth but the cash these resources allow to be raised plus the addition of bad foreign actors pursuing their own selfish interest certainly tend to make these wars more protracted, disruptive and bloody. 4) Ethnic conflict is the result of many factors however resources when they are disproportional controlled by one ethnic group can make the problem worse.
The question may be how can this is issue be better managed so that resource wealth does not become an additional toxic chemical added to all of issues the countries in question face?