Natural Resources Curse in the Long Run? Bolivia, Chile and Peru in the Nordic Countries’ Mirror

Summary, in English

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.

• Author: Cristián Ducoing; José Peres-Cajías; Marc Badia-Miró; Ann-Kristin Bergquist; Carlos Contreras; Kristin Ranestad; Sara Torregrosa Hetland
• Department/s: Department of Economic History
• Publishing year: 2018-03
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Sustainability
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 4
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su10040965
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Topic: Economic History
• Status: Published
• Project: Sustainable development, Fiscal policy and Natural resources management. Bolivia, Chile and Peru in the Nordic countries’ mirror
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 2071-1050