Sustainability 2018, 10(4), 965; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10040965
Natural Resources Curse in the Long Run? Bolivia, Chile and Peru in the Nordic Countries’ Mirror
Cristián Ducoing 1,†,*
, José Peres-Cajías 2,†, Marc Badia-Miró 3, Ann-Kristin Bergquist 4, Carlos Contreras 5, Kristin Ranestad 1,6 and Sara Torregrosa 1
, José Peres-Cajías 2,†, Marc Badia-Miró 3, Ann-Kristin Bergquist 4, Carlos Contreras 5, Kristin Ranestad 1,6 and Sara Torregrosa 1
1
Department of Economic History, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
2
School of Production and Competitiveness, Bolivian Catholic University “San Pablo”, Avenue 14 de Septiembre Number 2, La Paz 4807, Bolivia
3
Department of Economic History, Institutions, Policy and World Economy, University of Barcelona, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
4
Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
5
Department of Economics, Catholic University of Perú, Av. Universitaria 1801, San Miguel, Lima 15081, Perú
6
Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, 0851 Oslo, Norway
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 31 January 2018 / Revised: 18 March 2018 / Accepted: 21 March 2018 / Published: 26 March 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Resources Economics)
Abstract
The new estimates of the Maddison Project show that GDP per capita ratio at purchasing power parity (ppp) between Bolivia and Finland has changed from 0.68 ca. 1850 to 0.16 in 2015; similarly, that between Chile and Norway from 0.65 to 0.28. The aim of this article is to present a review of the literature and available quantitative evidence to understand how these extreme differences became possible between countries with similarly enormous natural resource endowments. Specifically, the article seeks to: (a) identify some stylized facts that may help understand the divergence between Andean and Nordic countries; (b) identify key historical processes that explain the divergent effect of natural resource abundance in Andean and Nordic economies. In order to achieve these objectives, four topics are covered: GDPpc, population, trade and taxation. The analysis comprises three Nordic countries (Finland, Norway and Sweden) and three Andean countries (Bolivia, Chile and Peru) from the mid-Nineteenth Century to present day. The sample size, time span covered and thematic approach provide new evidence regarding previous work. View Full-TextKeywords:
natural resources; economic development; long-term economic growth; Latin America; Scandinavia; trade; commodities; human capital; knowledge; taxation
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Ducoing, C.; Peres-Cajías, J.; Badia-Miró, M.; Bergquist, A.-K.; Contreras, C.; Ranestad, K.; Torregrosa, S. Natural Resources Curse in the Long Run? Bolivia, Chile and Peru in the Nordic Countries’ Mirror. Sustainability 2018, 10, 965.
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