The curse of the gulf oil?
The curse of the gulf oil; can the reason that brings riches to an economy be the same reason that cripples it?
I was reading Juliane Brach’s working paper “Constraints to Economic Development and Growth in the Middle East and North Africa” and I was stopped by a compelling urge to share what I just read which made so much sense and poked a thought that I have had circulating in my head for quite a while now.
When determining the type and situation of each economy in the Arab-MENA region, Juliane considered oil dependency (in the sense of dependency on selling oil for income, or in other words having oil underground) as one of the determining factors and said “oil dependency relates to the discussion on rent –seeking; rentier states; Dutch disease; and, last but not least, the resource curse literature”.
What makes a goldmine “in this case oil field” a blessing and what makes it a curse? How to control this goldmine so it won’t backfire? And most importantly, how to turn this limited-resource based economic growth into sustainable economic growth?
Would like to hear your opinions, let us have a discussion about this…
Compliance specialist, political analyst; MENA region expert. PhD in political science. Associate professor and freelance writer.
9 年Very interesting thought. Indeed, sustainable development is an issue that worries economists all over the world. Resources will one day dry out and alternatives for durable, steady, green and sustainable development must be developed. UAE, Dubai in particular, has transformed itself to and economic hub that does not only depend on oil, but also on other services (financial services/ tourism etc.). Perhaps the key words here are innovation, and vision. Perhaps a good example would be what small communities in European countries do to deal with the “curse” of their resources. For instance, when certain EU policies limit the production of certain products in some regions, local communities did develop alternatives to keep their economies afloat and limit their dependency on certain resources for their livelihood.