Managing Resource Abundance and Wealth: The Norwegian Experience describes the sundry and significant challenges, both economic and political, facing petroleum-producing countries. The volume outlines the pitfalls that policymakers encounter in the aftermath of a major resource discovery, and what they can do to protect their countries from the most adverse consequences. These lessons are derived from two very different sources: The broader-if still underdeveloped-social science literature that examines the 'Paradox of Plenty' in its disparate forms; and the experience of a country that has successfully managed its natural resources over several decades. As a small country on the margins of Europe, Norway has stood up to powerful international interests in one of the world's most powerful industries. Norway has exerted sovereign control over its natural environment, and exploited its resources in a way that has delivered significant wealth to its citizens. This volume explains how Norway has largely avoided the 'Paradox of Plenty'. It aims to demonstrate the variety of policy tools that are available to states rich in natural resources, and how these tools can be adjusted to changing (domestic and international) contexts. It considers a number of questions, such as how countries need to administer and regulate the industry to consider the costs and benefits associated with various contract and licensing regimes, and fiscal arrangements; to maintain competitiveness and avoid becoming too dependent upon the sector; to maximize local content; and to protect the broader economy from the volatility of petroleum prices. The volume shows how the industry can be managed in a democratic, just, and ethical manner, and for the benefit of the general population.

Sovereign Wealth Funds have become increasingly powerful and influential investors. Their increasing role, and unusual character as both political and market actors, raise a number of issues with regard to finance, politics, regulation, and international business. This handbook draws together the growing but fragmented research on SWFs.

Spiritual Wealth Management is an executive success manifesto with a mystical twist. After a lifetime of study and experience, the author was inspired to distill the greatest prosperity and wealth teachings into a brief, readable treatise. It brings together ancient wisdom from the Western and Asian traditions and modern strategies which enhance a success program of action and presents them in the context of the science of wealth management.

Since the 1960s the per capita incomes of the resource-poor countries have grown significantly faster than those of the resource-abundant countries. In fact, in recent years economic growth has been inversely proportional to the share of natural resource rents in GDP, so that the small mineral-driven economies have performed least well and the oil-driven economies worst of all. Yet the mineral-driven resource-rich economies have high growth potential because the mineral exportsboost their capacity to invest and to import."Resource Abundance and Economic Development" explains the disappointing performance of resource-abundant countries by extending the growth accounting framework to include natural and social capital. The resulting synthesis identifies two contrasting development trajectories: the competitive industrialization of the resource-poor countries and the staple trap of many resource-abundant countries. The resource-poor countries are less prone to policy failure than the resource-abundant countriesbecause social pressures force the political state to align its interests with the majority poor and follow relatively prudent policies. Resource-abundant countries are more likely to engender political states in which vested interests vie to capture resource surpluses (rents) at the expense of policycoherence. A longer dependence on primary product exports also delays industrialization, heightens income inequality, and retards skill accumulation. Fears of 'Dutch disease' encourage efforts to force industrialization through trade policy to protect infant industry. The resulting slow-maturing manufacturing sector demands transfers from the primary sector that outstrip the natural resource rents and sap the competitiveness of the economy.The chapters in this collection draw upon historical analysis and models to show that a growth collapse is not the inevitable outcome of resource abundance and that policy counts. Malaysia, a rare example of successful resource-abundant development, is contrasted with Ghana, Bolivia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Argentina, which all experienced a growth collapse. The book also explores policies for reviving collapsed economies with reference to Costa Rica, South Africa, Russia and Central Asia. Itdemonstrates the importance of initial conditions to successful economic reform.

Managing Resource Abundance and Wealth: The Norwegian Experience describes the sundry and significant challenges, both economic and political, facing petroleum-producing countries. The volume outlines the pitfalls that policymakers encounter in the aftermath of a major resource discovery, and what they can do to protect their countries from the most adverse consequences. These lessons are derived from two very different sources: The broader-if still underdeveloped-social science literature that examines the 'Paradox of Plenty' in its disparate forms; and the experience of a country that has successfully managed its natural resources over several decades. As a small country on the margins of Europe, Norway has stood up to powerful international interests in one of the world's most powerful industries. Norway has exerted sovereign control over its natural environment, and exploited its resources in a way that has delivered significant wealth to its citizens. This volume explains how Norway has largely avoided the 'Paradox of Plenty'. It aims to demonstrate the variety of policy tools that are available to states rich in natural resources, and how these tools can be adjusted to changing (domestic and international) contexts. It considers a number of questions, such as how countries need to administer and regulate the industry to consider the costs and benefits associated with various contract and licensing regimes, and fiscal arrangements; to maintain competitiveness and avoid becoming too dependent upon the sector; to maximize local content; and to protect the broader economy from the volatility of petroleum prices. The volume shows how the industry can be managed in a democratic, just, and ethical manner, and for the benefit of the general population.

This book aims to foster a better understanding of the particular challenges faced by resource-dependent countries or jurisdictions in managing their resource revenues through natural resource funds (NRFs). It explores the varieties of natural resource management strategies as dictated primarily by domestic politics, and how the potential negative distributional consequences of resource wealth management (the resource curse) may add political dimensions and potential conflicts to decisions about NRFs in ways that other sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) do not experience. By bridging the existing academic and practical knowledge gap arising from the limited attention given to the domestic politics of NRFs and state-society relations, this edited book is a valuable resource for academics, policymakers, and civil society actors in resource-driven economies and especially those interested in learning from comparative experiences of natural resource wealth management through NRFs.

The wealth derived from natural resources can have a tremendous impact on the economics and politics of producing countries. In the last quarter century, we have seen the surprising and sobering consequences of this wealth, producing what is now known as the "resource curse." Countries with large endowments of natural resources, such as oil and gas, often do worse than their poorer neighbors. Their resource wealth frequently leads to lower growth rates, greater volatility, more corruption, and, in extreme cases, devastating civil wars. In this volume, leading economists, lawyers, and political scientists address the fundamental channels generated by this wealth and examine the major decisions a country must make when faced with an abundance of a natural resource. They identify such problems as asymmetric bargaining power, limited access to information, the failure to engage in long-term planning, weak institutional structures, and missing mechanisms of accountability. They also provide a series of solutions, including recommendations for contracting with oil companies and allocating revenue; guidelines for negotiators; models for optimal auctions; and strategies to strengthen state-society linkages and public accountability. The contributors show that solutions to the resource curse do exist; yet, institutional innovations are necessary to align the incentives of key domestic and international actors, and this requires fundamental political changes and much greater levels of transparency than currently exist. It is becoming increasingly clear that past policies have not provided the benefits they promised. Escaping the Resource Curse lays out a path for radically improving the management of the world's natural resources.