The social development effects of primary commodity export dependence

On the question of whether natural resources are a curse for growth the jury is still out While waiting for a decision we study whether resource intensity has any effect on social development over and above the effect it might have on income or growth We measure social development by a combination of health and education outcomes and resource intensity by the share of primary commodities in total merchandise exports We find that after controlling for per-capita income and other macroeconomic and institutional factors a higher dependence on primary commodity exports is negative for social development The transmission mechanism seems to operate via income inequality and macroeconomic volatility (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved