Article APA Citation: Sachs, J. D., & Warner, A. M. (1999). The big push, natural resource booms and growth. Journal of Development Economics, 59, 43-76. Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0014-2921 (01)00125-8
Research Problem Addressed
The paper addresses the question of whether or not natural resource booms act as economic catalysts that low income countries can rely upon to overcome the fixed costs that come with the industrialization process as suggested by the big push reasoning. The authors’ main objective is to ascertain whether natural resource specialization by a country is an important strategy that can spur economic development. In this paper therefore, Sachs and Warner (1999) set out to examine the problem of natural resource curse whereby the availability of natural resources in a country does not in itself lead to economic growth and development.
Research Methodology Employed
Authors’ Main Conclusions
Other Articles Citing this
Critical Analysis and Evaluation
In my own assessment of this paper Sachs and Warner (1999), I find it raising really interesting issues as far as the disconnect between natural resources availability or abundance and economic development is concerned. It is thus significant for any reader in understanding the fact that the kind of policies adopted in extraction and management of natural resources in a country are what to a greater extent determine whether or not the resources will have economic sense and significance or not. It is thus a readable and well written master pierce.
Abstract of Review
The article by Sachs and Warner provides insight into the evidence that shows that among Latin American countries, the boom in natural resources is sometimes associated with a concomitant decline in the per-capita national income or GDP. There is thus, according to them, the necessary need for a “big push” to help spur development in such situations. The authors have also delved into the issues of specialization and industrialization in terms of economics of natural resource. Using a case studies research methodology, the authors have given a cross-country evidence of resource-rich Latin American countries whose levels of economic development are not at per or in tandem with their natural resource abundance. According to these authors, their research study found out that there was no link between the abundance of natural resources in the Latin American states under study and national investment, saving and rate of accumulation of human capital (p.48).
List of Four Other References
Chambers, D., & Guo, J-T. (2009). Natural resources and economic growth: Some theory and evidence. Annals of Economics and Finance, 10 (2), 367-389
Tobias, K. (2004). The curse of natural resources in the transition economies. Economics of Transition Journal, 12, 399-426. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0967-0750.2004.00187.x
Wright, G., & Czelusta, J. (2004). Why economies slow: The myth of the resource curse. Challenge Journal, 47, 6-38.
Yang, B. H. (2009). Resource Curse: The role of institutions versus policies. Journal of Applied Economics Letters, 17, 61-66.
References
Roy, B.C., Sarkar, S., & Mandal, N.R. (2013). Natural resource abundance and economic performance- A literature review. Journal of Urban Studies, 1 (4), 148-155
Sachs, J. D., & Warner, A. M. (1999). The big push, natural resource booms and growth. Journal of Development Economics, 59, 43-76. Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?paperID=40951
