Disaggregated analysis of the curse of natural resources in most natural resource-abundant countries

A vast body of literature examining the natural resource curse hypothesis (NCRH), the studies, by summing all types of natural resources, uses a single measure for the natural resource. To fill this gap, the study aims at testing the NRCH hypothesis by using the ARDL method and use the data distinguishing five different types of natural resources (coal, forests, minerals, natural gas, and oil) and covering the period from 1990 to 2017 for ten countries with different level of economic development, being measured by Human Development Index. The study finds mixed results. Firstly, the study finds very little evidence favoring adverse growth effects across each type of commodity. The results show no positive or negative impacts of natural resources on economic growth for developed economies (countries with high HDI scores). For countries with moderate and low HDI scores, we found mixed results. In particular, we find some evidence supporting NRCH for point-source resources for these two group countries (moderate and poor). •This study employs ARDL bounds testing to explore the resource curse hypothesis.•The sample consists of ten resource-abundant countries.•The study examines the impact of natural resource rents separately on the income level.•Empirical results provide heterogeneity across natural resource rents.