Commodity windfalls, polarization, and net foreign assets: Panel data evidence on the voracity effect

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Arezki, Rabah; Brueckner, Markus
• 署名单位: International Monetary Fund; University of Adelaide
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2011.11.001
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 318-326
• 关键词: Commodity windfalls; net foreign assets; polarization

摘要

This paper examines the effects that windfalls from international commodity price booms have on net foreign assets in a panel of 145 countries during the period 1970-2007. The main finding is that windfalls from international commodity price booms lead to a significant increase in net foreign assets, but only in countries that are ethnically homogeneous. In highly ethnically polarized countries, net foreign assets significantly decreased. To explain this asymmetry, the paper shows that in ethnically polarized countries commodity windfalls lead to large increases in government consumption expenditures and political corruption. The paper's findings are consistent with theoretical models of the current account that have a built-in voracity effect. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.