Abstract:

In efforts to explain the resource curse, researchers have examined the connection between the resource curse and national corruption. Because being relatively rich in natural resources may encourage rent-seeking behavior, some have speculated that the root cause of the curse might be corruption rather than an abundance of natural resources. The evidence is mixed. This article turns the question around and asks, given political, cultural, institutional, and economic influences, whether there is a statistical relationship between resource abundance and corruption. The focus is on the interaction of autocratic governance and resource abundance. The results suggest that the rents on natural resources alone are not a strong cause of corruption. There is evidence that natural resources combined with autocratic governance influences corruption but, after controlling for other influences the relationship is not strong and the results are sensitive to the way that corruption is operationalized. Meanwhile, several non-resource variables including, larger government, more competition, political stability, and business freedom do seem to reduce national corruption. The study is based on 125 nations using average 2012–2016 variable values.

摘要：

为了解释资源诅咒，研究人员研究了资源诅咒与国家腐败之间的联系。由于相对丰富的自然资源可能会鼓励寻租行为，因此有人推测，这一诅咒的根本原因可能是腐败，而不是大量的自然资源。证据好坏参半。本文回避了这个问题，并在给定政治，文化，制度和经济影响的情况下，询问资源丰富度与腐败之间是否存在统计关系。重点是专制治理与资源丰富的相互作用。结果表明，仅自然资源租金并不是造成腐败的有力原因。有证据表明，自然资源与专制治理相结合会影响腐败，但是，在控制了其他影响之后，这种关系并不牢固，结果对腐败的实现方式很敏感。同时，一些非资源变量，包括更大的政府，更多的竞争，政治稳定和商业自由，似乎确实减少了国家腐败。这项研究是基于125个国家/地区的2012-2016年平均变量值得出的。