Natural resources and development : Three essays

Abstract

Leveraging natural resource endowment to accelerate growth and jobs in Sub-Saharan African natural resource-rich countries is a key challenge to lift millions of African out of poverty. More than half of sub-Saharan African countries are resource-dependent (26 out of 48 countries). Moreover, by 2030, 64 percent of the world's poor will reside in sub-Saharan resource rich countries, compared to 12% in 2000. The present dissertation provides three empirical studies that investigate the relationship between natural resources and development. We examine the role of policy in each part of the process ranging from the initial development of resource projects to turning revenues stemming from the extraction into sustainable development. We also contribute to the debate on structural transformation and jobs by exploring the impact of natural resources on labor dynamics in sub-Sahara Africa.The first essay contributes to the literature by showing that policymakers can, through taxation, lead the mine-owner in an extraction path in line with government resource development agendas. For the first time in the literature, we use survival analysis to study the impact of taxation on the lead time from discovery to production and highlight its significant role in explaining the development delay. Our findings suggest that when the fiscal regime has a corporate income tax equal or below 25% and a royalty equal to or below 2%, the time from discovery to production is shortened and, in contrast, lengthen when the corporate income tax is beyond 35% and royalty beyond 5%. Most importantly, we found that progressive fiscal regimes allow countries to mobilize greater resources when economic conditions are favorable and foster the development of discoveries.As for the first one, the second essay focuses on the role of policymaker in promoting lasting economic development. We re-examine the relationship between government expenditures and growth in 23 Sub-Saharan African resou