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Investigating the Transmission Channels behind Dutch Disease Effects : Lessons from Mongolia Using a CGE Model
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Year: 2017 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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This paper uses a computable general equilibrium model Maquette for Millennium Development Goal Simulations (MAMS) calibrated to Mongolia to investigate how the development of major mining projects leads to Dutch disease. The simulations suggest that the process is complex, with the relative strength of the different spending and resource movement channels determined by structural features of the economy, such as factor input needs of the mining sector and substitution elasticities, and how mineral windfalls are eventually spent. In Mongolia, mining sector demand for domestic factor inputs explains two-thirds of the appreciation of the real exchange rate, with demand for labor, aquasi-fixed factor, the most potent channel for transmitting Dutch disease. The simulations also suggest that public policies may only play a limited role in limiting Dutch disease, even if growing fiscal revenues are channeled toward productivity-enhancing public investment rather than public consumption or lower taxes. This finding suggests that policy makers face real trade-offs, namely that, as an equilibrium response, Dutch disease is unavoidable and at odds with an export-led, manufacturing-oriented development strategy unless resources are left in the ground (or mining earnings are saved abroad). If the objective is to limit Dutch disease, then the simulations point to policies that minimize the usage of domestic inputs by the mining sector, or that accommodate the growing demand for key inputs such as labor e.g. through immigration. Regarding spending, policy makers should channel mining revenues toward public investment, to expand the economy's long-run supply potential. Where large direct income flows from the mining sector to households are important, monetary policy may be more useful than fiscal policy in constraining private spending.


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Escaping Chad's Growth Labyrinth : Disentangling Constraints from Opportunities and Finding a Path to Sustainable Growth.
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Year: 2018 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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This study seeks to understand the structure and workings of the labyrinth to propose a concrete escape. It attempts to answer the following questions. (1) Why is it that Chad could not translate the discovery of oil into structural development, economic diversification and sustainable growth? (2) What could possible pathways towards sustainable long run growth look like? (3) Which macro and micro policy actions could help build those pathways?


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Dutch Disease and Spending Strategies in a Resource-Rich Low-Income Country : The Case of Niger
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Year: 2013 Publisher: Washington, D.C., The World Bank,

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This paper examines spending plans suggested by the recent literature regarding Dutch disease and examines their implications to Niger relative to its expanding mineral sector. The key to the benefits of significant mineral revenue lies with the productivity and supply responses of spending. If significant output gain is ensured, then there is little difference across the spending plans in their effects on real consumption. The overshooting of relative prices of the non-tradable sector or the shrinking share of traded sectors in gross domestic product is also ameliorated with greater supply flexibility. Growth paths of alternative spending strategies differ markedly in timing and pattern when spending does not raise productivity. As a caution against expectations that exaggerate the benefits of mineral revenue under all circumstances, the more aggressive spending plan may result in a boom-bust cycle if fiscal adjustments and debt repayments are necessary for any significant borrowing against future revenue and productivity gains are not realized. Using extractive industries revenue for transfers to households would have a greater effect on poverty reduction in the short and medium term but the long-run gains from investment in human and physical capital are likely to offset the initial lack of pro-poor bias. Different strategies differ significantly with regard to risks and required technical implementation capacity and political capacity to sustain a chosen course of action.


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Budget Rules and Resource Booms : A Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Analysis
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Year: 2014 Publisher: Washington, D.C., The World Bank,

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This paper develops a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to analyze and derive simple budget rules in the face of volatile public revenue from natural resources in a low-income country like Niger. The simulation results suggest three policy lessons or rules of thumb. When a resource price change is positive and temporary, the best strategy is to save the revenue windfall in a sovereign fund, and use the interest income from the fund to raise citizens' consumption over time. This strategy is preferred to investing in public capital domestically, even when private investment benefits from an enhanced public capital stock. Domestic investment raises the prices of domestic goods, leaving less money for government to transfer to households; public investment is not 100 percent effective in raising output. In the presence of a negative temporary resource price change, however, the best strategy is to cut public investment. This strategy dominates other methods, such as trimming government transfers to households, which reduces consumption directly, or borrowing, which incurs an interest premium as debt rises. In the presence of persistent (positive and negative) shocks, the best strategy is a mix of public investment and saving abroad in a balanced regime that provides a natural insurance against both types of price shocks. The combination of interest income from the sovereign fund, transfers to households, and output growth brought about by public investment provides the best protective mechanism to smooth consumption over time in response to changing resource prices.


Book
The Republic of Congo Systematic Country Diagnostic : Policy Priorities for Ending Extreme Poverty and Boosting Shared Prosperity in a Non-Diversified and Fragile Country.
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Year: 2018 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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One of the key objectives of this first SCD of the Republic of Congo is to serve as an essential input to the Country Partnership Framework. The SCD is not intended to carry out substantial new analytical work, but rather to draw upon and synthesize the existing evidence. A substantial amount of analytical work on Congo has been carried out in recent years, covering a wide range of subjects. These reports and studies conducted by the World Bank were supplemented by studies prepared by the government and other development partners and formed a solid basis for the analysis presented in the chapters to follow. The report is divided into two main parts. The first part presents the growth drivers and constraints for achieving the twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty in Congo by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity. The second part categorizes the constraints, prioritizes them according to the impact they have on the twin goals, identifies areas for improvement, and provides recommendations for leveraging the country's opportunities and achieving sustainable and equitable growth.


Book
Demystifying Dutch Disease
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Year: 2014 Publisher: Washington, D.C., The World Bank,

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This paper examines the theory of Dutch disease and its implications for practical policy questions. Dutch disease is a term that is well-known to economists and development practitioners. But it is also a concept that is often conflated with "resource curse" and misinterpreted as a "disease" that necessarily causes adverse impacts on the economy. The paper points out that many of the seemingly well-established arguments in this field are not necessarily grounded in theory or empirical evidence. Great care is needed in diagnosing Dutch disease and formulating policy prescriptions based on the theoretical framework, given the restrictive assumptions that may not be fully applicable and the limited relevance to today's inextricably intertwined trade flows. Countries facing large inflows of foreign currency should focus on safeguarding the domestic economy from the volatility of international commodity and capital markets, and building robust institutions to reduce adjustment costs and boost broader competitiveness. A policy package needs to be comprehensive, covering macroeconomic and structural policy measures, and should be calibrated to target country specific concerns. Policies may need to be adjusted continuously in view of the evolving dynamics of the global and domestic economic environment.


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Are Natural Resources Cursed? : An Investigation of the Dynamic Effects of Resource Dependence on Institutional Quality
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Year: 2012 Publisher: Washington, D.C., The World Bank,

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This paper examines whether natural resource dependence has a negative influence on various indicators of institutional quality when controlling for the potential effects of other geographic, economic and cultural initial conditions. Analysis of a panel of countries from 1996 to 2010 indicates that a high degree of resource dependence, measured as the share of mineral fuel exports in a country's total exports, is associated with worse government effectiveness, as well as with reduced levels of competition across the economy. Furthermore, estimation of long-run elasticities suggests that government effectiveness and the intensity of domestic competition decrease over time as the dependence on natural resources increases. An illustration of the Russian case shows that the negative effects accumulate in the long run, leading to a worse deterioration of government effectiveness in Russia than in Canada, a country with a comparable resource endowment but far better overall institutional quality. This result is corroborated by a significant negative correlation found between regional resource dependence and an indicator of regulatory capture in Russian regions, which indicates that the regulatory environment is more likely to be subverted in regions that are more dependent on extractive industries. Overall, the findings would be consistent with a situation in which a generally weak institutional environment would allow resource interests to wield the bidding power accruing from export revenues to subvert the content of laws and regulations, as well as their enforcement. The fact that this is associated with negative externalities for the rest of the economy, notably by undermining a level playing field across non-resource sectors, sheds light on a potential channel for the resource curse.


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Risky Business : Political Instability and Greenfield Foreign Direct Investment in the Arab World
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Year: 2013 Publisher: Washington, D.C., The World Bank,

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Which foreign direct investments are most affected by political instability? Analysis of quarterly greenfield investment flows into countries in the Middle East and North Africa from 2003 to 2012 shows that adverse political shocks are associated with significantly reduced investment inflows in the non-resource tradable sectors. By contrast, investments in natural resource sectors and non-tradable activities appear insensitive to such shocks. Consistent with these patterns, the significant reduction in investment inflows in Arab Spring affected economies was starkest in the non-resource manufacturing sector. Political instability is thus associated with increased reliance on non-tradables and aggravated resource dependence. Conversely, how intensified political instability affects aggregate foreign direct investment is critically contingent on the initial sector composition of these flows.


Book
Diagnosing Dutch Disease : Does Russia Have the Symptoms?
Authors: ---
ISBN: 146230740X 1452712786 1282448277 9786613821461 145191119X Year: 2007 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund,

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In this paper, we assess whether recent economic developments in Russia are symptomatic of Dutch Disease. We first provide a brief review of the literature on Dutch Disease and the natural resource curse. We then discuss the symptoms of Dutch Disease, which include (1) real exchange rate appreciation; (2) slower manufacturing growth; (3) faster service sector growth; and (4) higher overall wages. We test these predictions for Russia while carefully controlling for other factors that could have led to similar symptoms. We conclude that, while Russia has all of the symptoms, the diagnosis of Dutch Disease remains to be confirmed.


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Infrastructure Aid, Deindustrialization, and Welfare
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ISBN: 1462316530 1452702748 1283512106 1451907052 9786613824554 Year: 2005 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund,

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This paper investigates the deindustrialization and welfare effects of infrastructure aid in developing countries. In the short run, cost-saving infrastructure aid in the export sector increases the domestic wage rate, whereas the same aid in the import sector lowers it. The cost of nontraded goods rises whether the export or the import sector receives infrastructure aid. Infrastructure aid in the nontraded sector has no effect on domestic factor prices. Laborsaving infrastructure aid causes an expansion of the export sector, while capital-saving infrastructure aid results in a Dutch disease effect in the export sector. If aid is below the optimal level, infrastructure aid increases consumer income and welfare.

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