Natural Resources and Reforms - Enterprise Surveys.pdf

WPS4882 Policy ReseaRch WoRking Pa PeR 4882 Natural Resources and Reforms Mohammad Amin Simeon Djankov The World Bank Financial and Private Sector Vice Presidency Enterprise Analysis Unit March 2009 Policy ReseaRch WoRking PaPeR 4882 Abstract The authors use a sample of 133 countries to investigate micro-economic reforms from the World Bank’s Doing the link between the abundance of natural resources and Business database. The results provide a robust support micro-economic reforms. Previous studies suggest that for the “resource curse” view: a move from the 75th natural resource abundance gives rise to governments percentile to the 25th percentile on resource abundance that are less accountable to the public and states that equals 10.9 percentage points more reform. This is a large are oligarchic, and that it leads to the erosion of social effect given that the mean probability of reform in the capital. These factors are likely to hamper economic sample is 57.1 percent. reforms. The authors test this hypothesis using data on This paper—a product of the Enterprise Analysis Unit, Financial and Private Sector Vice Presidency—is part of a larger effort in the department to is part of a larger effort in the department to better understand the functioning of the private sector. Policy Research Working Papers are also posted on the Web at . The author may be contacted at mamin@. The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get