The Oil Curse Validated: Evidence From Eurasia and Latin America

Abstract

Many studies have found a negative relationship between oil abundance and democracy. However, recent studies have tried to upend this correlation by employing time-series techniques or finding a conditionality on other factors. This study contributes to the literature by employing an Arellano Bond model that corrects for fixed effects and adopts new variables from recent empirical studies. Comparing Eurasia and Latin America from the 1960s to 2010, we find that the theory of a negative relationship between an abundance of natural resources and democracy remains valid.

The Natural Resource Curse: Is It Really a Curse?

“…Until this point, several scholars kept publishing papers finding results that confirms Ross ( 2001)'s finding that there is a negative association between reliance on natural resources and the levels of democracy within a country (Jensen and Wantchekon 2004, Goldberg et al 2008, Ross 2009, Aslaksen 2010, Algharabali et al 2021, Brooks and Kurtz 2022. This finding started to prevail as a fact among political scientists.…”