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The “resource curse phenomenon” has received a lot of attention from researchers; however, there has not been any sound explanation to back this phenomenon since the main reason why natural resource should restrain economic growth instead of boosting economic growth remains unanswered. This paper contributes to literature on “resource curse hypothesis” by examining the role of government effectiveness in influencing the impact of gas resource rent on economic growth.

The study adopted the Cobb-Douglass production and incorporated gas resource rent, institutional quality (government effectiveness), inflation and exchange rate as additional variables that influences total output (gross domestic product). The author estimated the empirical form of the Cobb-Douglass production using autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) and Toda and Yamamoto (1995) as the main estimation strategies while other time series approaches were used as a robustness check.

The estimates from the ARDL short-run and the long-run dynamics suggest that the direct impact of gas resource rent on economic growth was positive but not statistically significant. At the same time, the interacting of gas resource rent and government effectiveness showed a positive and statistically significant effect of nearly 0.4123 and 0.8724 on economic growth in the long run and short run, respectively. The results from the Toda and Yamamoto (1995) also indicated that economic growth has a strong influence on gas resource rent while government effectiveness drives economic growth and not vice versa.

The findings from this study imply that government effectiveness plays a crucial role in averting the “resource curse phenomenon”. Hence, improving government effectiveness and efficiency through minimizing corruption among state institutions would be imperative in curbing the “resource curse phenomenon” in developing countries.

The influential role of government effectiveness on the relationship between gas resource rent on economic growth is examined.

African countries are endowed with both human and natural resources. These resources constitute integral components for any economic development due to the long-lasting relationship with all sectors in an economy, yet there is an obvious disagreement between growing economy and employment generation in Africa. Though there has been a growing pattern of economic size, particularly the gross domestic product (GDP) among African countries, most of these economies are low in human development. The disagreement between economic growth and employment generation in Africa despite abundant natural resources located on the continent calls for public discourse among scholars. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examine the peculiar drivers of unemployment intensity in a region characterized by endowed resources.

The paper adopts two approaches; the authors employed the pooled mean group (PMG) estimator and utilised stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to generate a government efficiency index between the period 1991 and 2017 among sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries.

The empirical results through the single output-multiple inputs framework indicate that on average, there is a low level of government efficiency towards increasing the objective of human development in Africa. However, in the long run, natural resource endowment has a positive and significant relationship with employment generation for SSA. Hence, the study established that a low level of government efficiency has a long-lasting effect on low human development experienced in Africa.

The need to improve the level of government efficiency towards economic development by making both human and physical capital more effective will spur the exploration of natural resources.

The paper provides an empirical study of the effectiveness and efficiency of government through PMG and SFA in establishing the relationship between government approaches and employment level in selected SSA countries.

While the relationship between natural resource rent and economic growth is well documented in the literature, not much robust analysis has been done to estimate the causative relationship between oil resource rent and economic growth in Ghana. This might be due to the fact that commercial production of crude oil started not long ago in Ghana. This paper aims to examine the causal relationship between oil resource rent and economic growth for the period of 2011 to 2020 in Ghana.

The study incorporates economic growth as a function of oil resource rent, non-oil revenue, foreign direct investment, capital and interest rate in a Cobb–Douglass production function/model. The study used four different estimation strategies including the autoregressive distributed lags model, Toda–Yamamoto test approach, nonlinear autoregressive distributed lags model and nonlinear Granger causality.

The main finding revealed that 1% increase in oil resource rent generates 0.84% increase in economic growth of Ghana in the long run. Contrary, the authors find an insignificant positive effect of oil resource rent on economic growth of Ghana in the short run for the period under study. The result from the Toda–Yamamoto test approach also showed a unidirectional causality running from oil resource rent to economic growth of Ghana, providing evidence in support of the resource blessing hypothesis in Ghana. The results are robust to two different alternative estimation strategies.

The causal relationship between crude oil resource rent and economic growth is examined.

This paper examines the relationship between and the effects of resource allocation and levels of professionalism on local economic development policies and strategies. In short, it asks a basic question; do cities get what they pay for in terms of economic development? A value judgment is, of course, inherent in this question; "what you pay for" serves as a euphemism for "good" economic development programs and policies. That is, if a local government devotes more budget and staff resources toward economic development, is the city more likely to implement effective economic development policies? Thus, this research examines the relationship between the resources and the professionalism of the local economic development agency, and the corresponding economic development goals and techniques employed in those communities.

While the process of negotiation has been studied extensively, little research has been done on the factors that lead parties to the negotiation table. In light of this, the purpose of this paper is to examine effects of unilateral conciliatory initiatives (UCIs) (actions) on the willingness and preparedness of parties to negotiate.

The study used a separate-sample posttest, 2 × 3 factorial design. Subjects were placed into simulated intractable resource- and identity-based conflicts. Groups then received UCIs (in the form of economic aid and apology) intended to benefit the other and contribute to a high commitment to de-escalation (ripeness). Ripeness was measured by increased empathy; and decreased distrust, escalatory behaviors (operationalized as aggression and autistic hostility), anger, win-lose/competitive orientation and negative attributions.

UCIs were shown to impact both the state and the process of ripeness. Apology facilitated ripeness in an identity conflict and positively impacted five of the six resistance areas in a resource conflict. Economic aid likewise affected ripeness in an identity conflict but did not impact a resource conflict better than an apology. The offer of an apology affected empathy in both conflict types but economic aid did not do so in a resource conflict. It was also observed that an identity-based conflict produced less trust and increased negative attributions than did a resource conflict.

This suggests that identity and resource conflicts activate some resistance areas differently. It also reveals that similar interventions may be effective in both conflicts but that each UCI affects particular resistance areas differently. The findings suggest that there should be an increased emphasis on apology by conflict resolution practitioners. The practical and theoretical implications of apologies and resource sharing in de-escalation are discussed, to facilitate their appropriate use in resolution strategies that reduce tensions within conflict.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of human resources management (HRM) on economic sustainability in Jordanian banks. To achieve this goal, data were collected from 23 Jordanian banks listed at the ASE from 2014 to 2019.

A regression model was employed using four independent variables that represent the HRM (i.e. managing the environment of human resources, human resources acquisition and preparation, human resources assessment and development and human resources compensation) and using economic sustainability as the dependent variable. The study also controlled for banks’ age, size, leverage and return on equity.

Results show that all independent variables are positively correlated with economic sustainability. The results imply that HRM is an important tool to enhance economic sustainability within the banking sector.

This study provides practical implications for banks’ managers, future researchers and policymakers. This is achieved by investigating the impact of the independent variables, including managing the human resources environment, the acquisition and preparation of human resources, the assessment and development of human resources and the compensation of human resources on the economic, social and environmental sustainability in Jordanian banks.

The paper assesses the role of natural resource rents in Nigeria's economy through the channel of institutional quality.

The analysis is done with the use of autoregressive-distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration, vector error correction model (VECM), Granger causality test and cointegrating regression over the period 1996–2019.

Findings support the notion that overreliance on natural resources could exacerbate the growing number of dysfunctional economic outcomes in the country. The study confirms that a mix of weak governance quality and natural resource rents could have a negligible effect on economic growth and possible retardation impact on the economy in the long run as well as in the short run. The evidence further reveals that there is unidirectional causality running from the interaction term to growth, suggesting that growth trajectory could be jointly determined by natural resource rents and the quality of institutions.

The divergent arguments associated with the mechanisms of resource curse in each of the resource-rich countries offer ample support for the contention that economic outcomes in resource-abundant states may not be a product of resource windfalls per se, but rather the quality of governance or ownership structure. Hence, the ultimate aim of the analysis is to further understanding on the link between resource rents and growth in Nigeria via governance channel.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the foreign direct investments (FDI)-growth nexus and the impact of natural resource abundance in the host country on the FDI-growth nexus.

For a large data set of 104 countries for the period 1996-2015, Arellano and Bond’s GMM estimation method is applied to investigate the impact of FDI inflow on economic growth and the role of the natural resource sector on the FDI-growth relationship.

The paper found a positive and significant effect of FDI inflows on economic growth of the host country. However, the impact of FDI inflows on economic growth changes with the changes in the size of the natural resource sector. The estimated positive impact of FDI inflows on economic growth declines with the expansion in the size of natural resources. Beyond a certain limit, a further expansion in the size of natural resource sector will lead to a negative effect of FDI on economic growth.

The paper found a positive and significant impact of FDI inflows on economic growth of the host country. However, the impact of FDI inflows on economic growth changes with the changes in the size of the natural resource sector. The estimated positive impact of FDI inflows on economic growth declines with the expansion in the size of the natural resources. Beyond a certain limit, a further expansion in the size of the natural resource sector will lead to a negative effect of FDI on economic growth. The same analysis is repeated for groups of countries divided into different income groups. FDI inflows are found to have significant growth enhancing role in all three groups of countries. However, FDI inflows-induced growth was found to be more pronounced in the middle- and low-income countries compared to high-income countries. Further, FDI-induced economic growth is slowed down in low-income and middle-income countries by the increase in size of the natural resource sector. While in high-income countries, the size of the natural resource sector has no significant role on the FDI-growth nexus.

While countries use their natural resource sector as an instrument to attract FDI into the countries, low- and middle-income countries face the dilemma of experiencing the resource curse in the form of watered down FDI-induced growth. Therefore, low- and middle-income countries need to try at the same time to attract FDI into the non-resources sector to keep the relative size of the natural resource sector low as to avoid hampering the FDI-induced economic growth. High-income countries, on the other hand, do not experience the FDI-induced growth hampering impact of the natural resource sector. Therefore, high-income countries should attract FDI into the countries regardless of the sector attracting the foreign investments.

The paper is part of the author’s PhD research and is an original contribution.

This paper aims to examine the role of economic integration and natural resources and foreign direct investment (FDI) complementarity in explaining economic growth in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The study employed the ordinary least square-random effects and the generalized two-stage least square instrumental variables (IV) regression to examine the relationship between the variables.

The authors find that regional economic integration and natural resource abundance are essential for promoting economic growth. The results further show a potential resource curse phenomenon, offset by the complementary effect of FDI in resource-rich countries. The findings are robust after conditioning for different measures of institutional quality.

The findings suggest the need for deeper regional trade integration and international cooperation, prudent natural resource management and concerted effort toward economic diversification.

Many studies have examined the determinants of economic growth in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). However, these studies did not incorporate or assess the potential of economic integration in the region. Moreover, studies that examined the growth effects of FDI did not assess the complementary role of the region's natural resource endowment which potentially drives FDI inflows. This study fills these gaps and provides a robust analysis of economic growth drivers in the region.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the contingency effect of natural resource abundance on the foreign direct investment (FDI)–growth relationship in a nonlinear (threshold) model.

The authors use the fixed effect threshold model for panel data with annual frequency for 83 countries and estimate threshold level of natural resource abundance that split the sample and change the FDI–growth relationship.

The results show that FDI has a strong positive impact on the economic growth of the host country if the host country's natural resources export is below the statistically significant estimated threshold. However, this FDI-induced economic growth is watered-down if the countries natural resources export is larger than the estimated threshold.

The results show that FDI has a strong positive impact on the economic growth of the host country if the host country's natural resources export is below the statistically significant estimated threshold. However, this FDI-induced economic growth is watered-down if the countries natural resources export is larger than the estimated threshold. The results are robust for alternative indicators of natural resources, i.e. natural resources rents.