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The Oil Resources of Timor-Leste : Curse or Blessing?

Lundahl, Mats and Sjöholm, Fredrik LU (2008) In The Pacific Review 21(1). p.67-86
Abstract
Timor-Leste is among the youngest nations in the world. It began its independence under difficult circumstances: poverty is widespread, education is poor, the industrial sector is non-existent, and political turbulence is on the rise. On the positive side, future oil revenues are predicted to be substantial, which could potentially be a great help in Timor-Leste's struggle for development. This paper examines critically the possibility for Timor-Leste to use oil revenues to achieve economic development. It describes how difficult it is to estimate the future revenues because of volatile prices, territorial disputes, and insufficient seismological mapping. It continues with a discussion of the ‘resource curse’ – the difficulty of combining... (More)
Timor-Leste is among the youngest nations in the world. It began its independence under difficult circumstances: poverty is widespread, education is poor, the industrial sector is non-existent, and political turbulence is on the rise. On the positive side, future oil revenues are predicted to be substantial, which could potentially be a great help in Timor-Leste's struggle for development. This paper examines critically the possibility for Timor-Leste to use oil revenues to achieve economic development. It describes how difficult it is to estimate the future revenues because of volatile prices, territorial disputes, and insufficient seismological mapping. It continues with a discussion of the ‘resource curse’ – the difficulty of combining natural resources with economic development. Moreover, the particular challenges for Timor-Leste's development are dealt with at some length, as are possible ways to avoid the resource curse. (Less)
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author
and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Timor-Leste, oil, resource curse, economic development
in
The Pacific Review
volume
21
issue
1
pages
20 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:39749115466
ISSN
0951-2748
DOI
10.1080/09512740701868898
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
3b2f9054-f6b8-42fd-b15c-d9d654c3cd80
date added to LUP
2017-10-10 11:43:15
date last changed
2022-01-30 23:18:52
@article{3b2f9054-f6b8-42fd-b15c-d9d654c3cd80,
  abstract     = {{Timor-Leste is among the youngest nations in the world. It began its independence under difficult circumstances: poverty is widespread, education is poor, the industrial sector is non-existent, and political turbulence is on the rise. On the positive side, future oil revenues are predicted to be substantial, which could potentially be a great help in Timor-Leste's struggle for development. This paper examines critically the possibility for Timor-Leste to use oil revenues to achieve economic development. It describes how difficult it is to estimate the future revenues because of volatile prices, territorial disputes, and insufficient seismological mapping. It continues with a discussion of the ‘resource curse’ – the difficulty of combining natural resources with economic development. Moreover, the particular challenges for Timor-Leste's development are dealt with at some length, as are possible ways to avoid the resource curse.}},
  author       = {{Lundahl, Mats and Sjöholm, Fredrik}},
  issn         = {{0951-2748}},
  keywords     = {{Timor-Leste; oil; resource curse; economic development}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{67--86}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{The Pacific Review}},
  title        = {{The Oil Resources of Timor-Leste : Curse or Blessing?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09512740701868898}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/09512740701868898}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}