Natural resources and income inequality: A meta-analytic review

The role of natural resource endowments in socio-economic development has sparked an enormous interest. One research area that could be pursued is the impact of natural resources on income inequality. Based on a meta-analytic review, this study examines 688 estimates reported by 40 primary studies to quantitatively synthesize the natural resources-income inequality literature. We find that there is no evidence of publication bias or a significant genuine average effect, but the estimates range substantially across studies. We employ the multilevel mixed-effects model and shrinkage approaches, particularly the LASSO and Elastic Net to find the driving forces of heterogeneity in the reported estimates. The meta-regression results link this heterogeneity mainly to the measurement of natural resources and income inequality, the specified regression model, the data structure, and the development level of the country (or group of countries) on which the study was conducted. Such study conclusions would serve as a good starting point for researchers and decision-makers alike before embarking upon carrying out future researches and policies, respectively. •A meta-analysis is conducted on the effect of natural resources on income inequality.•A total number of 688 estimates reported by 40 primary studies are considered.•No evidence of publication bias or sizeable true average effect exists in the natural resources-income inequality literature.•Heterogeneity in the estimates of the effect of natural resources on income inequality is explained by several factors.