Resource Curse in WAIFEM Member Countries: An Application of Seemingly Unrelated Regression

Abstract

Even though empirical evidence has shown that naturally endowed countries growth slower than their less naturally endowed counterparts, the scenario tagged as “resource curse hypothesis”, but it seems there are exceptions. Therefore, this study examines the confirmation or disputation of resource curse hypothesis among the West African Institutes for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) member countries during the period 1986-2016. The study applied seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) and unraveled the strengthened effect of natural resources on output growth in Gambia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone. But, the study revealed a negative and statistically significant effect on economic growth in Liberia and Nigeria, thereby upholding the presence of resource curse hypothesis only in Liberia and Nigeria. Therefore, an overall “umbrella” policy recommendation inappropriate, but individually designed strategy that would help in managing the resources rents effectively in order to boost economic growth particularly in Liberia and Nigeria where their resource endowment serve as a curse rather than a blessing is recommended.

The effect of synergistic pollution and carbon reduction in the digital economy: Quasi-experimental evidence from Chinese cities

“…Because resource endowment differences in the economic base, human capital, and technology innovation among cities stimulate national output growth to varying degrees (Inuwa et al, 2023), it was necessary to further explore the synergistic effects of the digital economy on the ESACG in different cities with different resource endowments. The importance ranking results show that the two factors most crucial in influencing synergistic AP and CE reduction were the levels of economic development and technological innovation, as indicated by GDP per capita and the number of patent applications, respectively.…”