The Timor Leste Petroleum Fund, veterans and white elephants: Fostering intergenerational equity?

Doraisami, Anita

doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2018.05.013

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Resource revenues in some developing countries and high income countries have been mishandled on various occasions due to waste, corruption, macroeconomic instability, civil conflict, and distortion of political processes (Duncan ). Some examples in the Pacific are: the mismanagement of the PNG Mineral Revenue Stabilisation Fund; the probable disaster given government overriding of constraints above estimated sustainable levels of the Timor‐Leste's Petroleum Fund on the verge of ceasing oil extraction; and the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust that was built from phosphate mining like Kiribati's RERF, but was unsuccessful later due to mismanagement and corruption (Duncan ; Ouoba ; Doraisami ; Gale ).…”

Section: Sovereign Wealth Fundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the role of sovereign wealth funds in small island developing states: evidence from Tuvalu and Kiribati

Taupo

2019

Asian-Pac Economic Lit

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This paper examines the important role that can be played by sovereign wealth funds in financing of disaster risk management. The governments of Tuvalu and Kiribati are predicting climate change and natural disaster risks imposing increasing financial pressure on their economies. Having the required financial response in the aftermath of disasters is important to these low‐lying atolls. The long‐term sustainability of sovereign wealth funds in Kiribati and Tuvalu in contributing to ex post disaster risk management is examined.

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Section: Sovereign Wealth Fundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the role of sovereign wealth funds in small island developing states: evidence from Tuvalu and Kiribati

Taupo

2019

Asian-Pac Economic Lit

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“…In 2013, for example, overall direct transfers (for pensions to veterans, support for the elderly and disabled, payments for single mothers etc) accounted for about 20% of non-oil GDP, while spending on road and electricity infrastructure projects for another 25%. In 2017, the transfers increased to 23%, while the corresponding figure for infrastructure development fell to 11% (Doraisami 2018). The World Bank raised questions regarding the sustainability and poverty impact of the current public spending schemes (Asia 2013).…”

Section: The Rentier State and Rent Seeking Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A very similar case is represented by the Oecusse special economic zone, which refers to the development of a trade, commerce and tourist hub in the enclave of Oecusse. The $4.11 billion public project has been criticized for marginalizing the mountaindwelling and rural population through the loss of productive agricultural land and risking depleting the Timorese Petroleum Fund in case foreign investment does not materialize (Doraisami 2018). The alternative to these investments would be to shift the oil revenues to Timor-Leste's people, making heavy investment in education, health and nutrition (Inder and Cornwall 2016).…”

Section: The Rentier State and Rent Seeking Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The generous pension scheme to veterans is possibly the most typical example of rent-seeking behavior taking place within Timor-Leste's oil economy. These are awarded to those who took part in the resistance struggle during Indonesian occupation, ranging from $230 to $750 per month in 2014 (Doraisami 2018). These sums are disproportionately large, when compared to the average Timorese income (where over 40% of the population survived on below US$38 per month, with the elderly and disabled receiving even less (Kent and Wallis 2014).…”

Section: The Rentier State and Rent Seeking Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is there a resource curse in Timor-Leste? A critical review of recent evidence

John

Papyrakis

Tasciotti

2020

Development Studies Research

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Shortly after oil production commenced in 2004, Timor-Leste became one of the most oil dependent countries in the world. The purpose of this piece is to assess whether Timor-Leste has been suffering from the typical political and economic ailments associated with the 'resource curse' hypothesis. The study critically analyses available evidence with reference to some of the common manifestations of the resource curse: conflict, rent-seeking behavior, Dutch disease and revenue volatility. It confirms that all of the examined mechanisms of the resource curse are present in Timor-Leste to varying degrees. This does not necessarily point to a causal relationship between mineral dependence and these socioeconomic problems. Many of these problems, common amongst developing countries, are attributed to a wide array of historical and political factors (which are likely to be associated with colonialism and inherited weak governance structures). While it might be tempting to attribute these problems to mineral discoveries and related income shocks, careful examination suggests that the extractive sector exacerbates pre-existing problems than necessarily causes them.

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“…Even island countries which extract fossil fuels, such as Timor-Leste, do not typically have the in-country processing and refining facilities to provide for their own needs (Raghoo, Surroop, Wolf, Filho, & Jeetah, 2018). Meanwhile, as noted by Doraisami (2018), the (mis)management of the resource has led to development and economic troubles. Maintaining an electricity grid, such as over the mountains of St. Lucia, undersea across an archipelago, or to a mainland increases supply costs for parts and expertise for construction, maintenance, and decommissioning, even where the operations are run entirely on-island.…”

Section: Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Critiques of island sustainability in tourism

Kelman

2019

Tourism Geographies

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Island sustainability influences and is influenced by tourism resources, such as sun, sea, and sand for warm water destinations and ice and large mammals for cold water destinations. To understand better these influences, some critiques of island sustainability are examined with regards to their relevance for tourism, using principally theoretical discussion supported by empirical examples as exemplified through the small island developing states (SIDS) acronym, pristine nature, and climate change. Energy (including transportation) and waste management, being essential service sectors for tourism, are examined in terms of island sustainability. Tourism-relevant consequences and understandings of island sustainability, especially from island studies literature, cover conspicuous sustainability, the storyline of climate change destroying islands including "last-chance tourism", and island assemblages. Branding and marketing feature, often trapping tourism into using island sustainability to achieve tourism goals irrespective of any sustainability goals succeeding.Although tourism using island sustainability is not inherently detrimental to tourism or to sustainability, it can distract and detract from working with islanders to seek sustainability including, but not limited to, tourism endeavours.

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The Timor Leste Petroleum Fund, veterans and white elephants: Fostering intergenerational equity?

Cited by 18 publications

References 21 publications

Rethinking the role of sovereign wealth funds in small island developing states: evidence from Tuvalu and Kiribati

Rethinking the role of sovereign wealth funds in small island developing states: evidence from Tuvalu and Kiribati

Is there a resource curse in Timor-Leste? A critical review of recent evidence

Critiques of island sustainability in tourism

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