Caspian Oil Windfalls: Who Will Benefit?
Article from: OGEL 1 (2004), in Good Governance
The Hazards of Petroleum Wealth - Introduction
p>The problem of managing petroleum wealth is so universal that a rich vocabulary has developed to describe it. The 'resource curse', the 'paradox of plenty', 'Dutch Disease', 'flawed prosperity', 'economic indigestion', 'the devil's excrement', and even the 'banyan tree problem' have all been used to describe this essential paradox: in recent decades countries blessed with resource wealth have consistently underperformed resource-poor countries on almost every indicator of progress ranging from human development, economic growth, democracy and good governance, and preserving the peace.