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Diamonds are a country's best friends! An empirical study of economic growth and natural resources in Sub-Saharan Africa

Blomstrand Andersen, Ulrika Theodora LU (2015) NEKH01 20151
Department of Economics
Abstract
This thesis analyses the impact of several natural resources on economic growth in the empirically rather poor Sub-Saharan Africa during the time period of 1990-2010. By performing panel regression analyses based on economic and political data from the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the conclusion that the production of diamonds promotes economic growth the most could be made. As an example, the extraordinary and for this region rather unusual development of Botswana will be discussed. This country managed to transform itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to an upper-middle income country with extremely high growth rates by combining diamond extractions with stable political policies.
Theories of economic growth and... (More)
This thesis analyses the impact of several natural resources on economic growth in the empirically rather poor Sub-Saharan Africa during the time period of 1990-2010. By performing panel regression analyses based on economic and political data from the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the conclusion that the production of diamonds promotes economic growth the most could be made. As an example, the extraordinary and for this region rather unusual development of Botswana will be discussed. This country managed to transform itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to an upper-middle income country with extremely high growth rates by combining diamond extractions with stable political policies.
Theories of economic growth and natural resources, such as the Dutch Disease and the curse of natural resources, will be analysed. Furthermore, some guidance in future decision making in policy questions will be performed – if a Sub-Saharan African country in the future happens to find both oil and diamonds, this thesis concludes that the country should invest in the production of diamonds because of its statistically significant greater impact on economic growth and development. (Less)
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author
Blomstrand Andersen, Ulrika Theodora LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKH01 20151
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Sub-Saharan Africa, economic growth, development, natural resources, diamonds, Botswana
language
English
id
5466582
date added to LUP
2015-06-30 15:32:05
date last changed
2015-06-30 15:32:05
@misc{5466582,
  abstract     = {{This thesis analyses the impact of several natural resources on economic growth in the empirically rather poor Sub-Saharan Africa during the time period of 1990-2010. By performing panel regression analyses based on economic and political data from the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the conclusion that the production of diamonds promotes economic growth the most could be made. As an example, the extraordinary and for this region rather unusual development of Botswana will be discussed. This country managed to transform itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to an upper-middle income country with extremely high growth rates by combining diamond extractions with stable political policies.
 Theories of economic growth and natural resources, such as the Dutch Disease and the curse of natural resources, will be analysed. Furthermore, some guidance in future decision making in policy questions will be performed – if a Sub-Saharan African country in the future happens to find both oil and diamonds, this thesis concludes that the country should invest in the production of diamonds because of its statistically significant greater impact on economic growth and development.}},
  author       = {{Blomstrand Andersen, Ulrika Theodora}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Diamonds are a country's best friends! An empirical study of economic growth and natural resources in Sub-Saharan Africa}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}