A “resource cursed” country is one in which an abundance of natural resources fosters worse development outcomes than those without. Often termed “the paradox of plenty”, many economies which rely on the rents supplied by valuable commodities such as oil and minerals, have been known to achieve low
THE PUBLIC SPHERE with Chido Nwakanma
SOS to Prof Paul Collier. What you predicted in The Bottom Billion is unfolding and coming real concerning Nigeria. It is frightening for its socio-economic and geopolitical implications for Africa and the world.
In 2007, Oxford economics Professor Collier submitted that if the world does nothing to arrest the development stasis of countries housing a billion of the world’s population, they will form “a ghetto of misery and discontent”. He listed Nigeria among the suspect countries. In the present circumstances, we seem to hurry to get to the feared destination of “a ghetto of misery and discontent”.
Zambia is a landlocked mineral dependent country in Southern Africa whose history is intimately entwined with the copper mining industry. Having gained Independence from Britain in 1964 at the height of a copper boom, the country experienced a slow and painful economic decline over the next quarter century. However, following a traumatic and protracted process of economic adjustment through the 1990s and early 2000s, Zambia s economic potential is now better than it has been at any time since Independence.
This book, which contains a set of rigorous but accessible essays by a range of Zambian and international scholars, seeks to examine the challenges and opportunities that currently face Zambian policymakers as they seek to harness the country s valuable natural assets to broad-based and sustainable economic growth over the coming decades. Written in a non-technical manner by leading scholars in the field, the chapters address key challenges in the areas of natural resource manage