Rabah Arezki
LastUpdated: May 25, 2026
Rabah Arezki is Chief of the Commodities Unit in the IMF Research Department and is also a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution and an external research associate at the University of Oxford. He received his MS in statistics and economics from the Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique in Paris and Ph.D in economics from European University Institute, Florence. He has written on energy, commodities, development economics and international macroeconomics. He has published widely in academic journals including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Economic Journal, the European Economic Review, the Journal of International Economics, the Journal of Development Economics, the World Bank Economic Review, and the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. He is the Editor of the IMF Research Bulletin and an Associate Editor of the Revue d'économie du développement. He has co-edited special issues of academic journals including of the Journal of Money Credit and Banking, and the Journal of International Money and Finance, and Oxford Economics Papers. He is the co-author, or co-editor of several books including Beyond the Curse: Policies to Harness the Power of Natural Resources, Commodity Price Volatility and Inclusive Growth in Low-Income Countries and Shifting Commodities Markets in a Globalized World. Many of his research papers have been cited extensively in academic circles and in prominent media outlets such as the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. His blog posts including on the recent oil drop and its consequences have been viewed over hundred thousand times and have been listed as the most read IMF blog posts. He is also a frequent contributor to Finance and Development magazine.
Email: RArezki@imf.org
Personal WebPage: http://ideas.repec.org/e/par153.html
Fluent In: Arabic, French, Italian.
Foreign Aid and Conflicts: The Effects of 9/11 on Donor Behavior, Working Paper No. 2025/016 , January 17, 2025
Shocks and Shields: Macroeconomic Institutions During Commodity Price Swings, Working Paper No. 2025/015 , January 17, 2025
Foreign Aid and (Big) Shocks: Evidence from Natural Disasters, Working Paper No. 2025/006 , January 10, 2025
The Globalization of Farmland: Theory and Empirical Evidence, Working Paper No. 2018/145 , June 22, 2018
Oil Prices and the Global Economy, Working Paper No. 2017/015 , January 27, 2017
From Global Savings Glut to Financing Infrastructure: The Advent of Investment Platforms, Working Paper No. 2016/018 , February 9, 2016
News Shocks in Open Economies: Evidence from Giant Oil Discoveries, Working Paper No. 2015/209 , September 29, 2015
Global Implications of Lower Oil Prices, Staff Discussion Notes No. 2015/015 , July 14, 2015
Testing the Prebisch-Singer Hypothesis since 1650: Evidence from Panel Techniques that Allow for Multiple Breaks, Working Paper No. 2013/180 , August 15, 2013
Commodity Price Volatility and Inclusive Growth in Low-Income Countries, , October 24, 2012
Structural Reforms, IMF Programs and Capacity Building: An Empirical Investigation, Working Paper No. 2012/232 , September 21, 2012
Education Attainment in Public Administration Around the World: Evidence from a New Dataset, Working Paper No. 2012/231 , September 21, 2012
Resource Windfalls, Optimal Public Investment and Redistribution: The Role of Total Factor Productivity and Administrative Capacity, Working Paper No. 2012/200 , August 1, 2012
Commodity Prices and Exchange Rate Volatility: Lessons from South Africa’s Capital Account Liberalization, Working Paper No. 2012/168 , June 1, 2012
Natural Resources, Volatility, and Inclusive Growth: Perspectives From the Middle East and North Africa, Working Paper No. 2012/111 , May 1, 2012
Beyond the Curse: Policies to Harness the Power of Natural Resources, , January 19, 2012
Are there Spillover Effects From Munis?, Working Paper No. 2011/290 , December 1, 2011
The Relative Volatility of Commodity Prices: A Reappraisal, Working Paper No. 2011/279 , December 1, 2011
What Drives the Global Land Rush?, Working Paper No. 2011/251 , November 1, 2011
Rainfall, Financial Development, and Remittances: Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa, Working Paper No. 2011/153 , July 1, 2011
Resource Windfalls, Macroeconomic Stability and Growth: The Role of Political Institutions, Working Paper No. 2011/142 , June 1, 2011
Food Prices and Political Instability, Working Paper No. 2011/062 , March 1, 2011
Sovereign Rating News and Financial Markets Spillovers: Evidence from the European Debt Crisis, Working Paper No. 2011/068 , March 1, 2011
Commodity Windfalls, Polarization, and Net Foreign Assets: Panel Data Evidenceon the Voracity Effect, Working Paper No. 2010/209 , September 1, 2010
Resource Windfalls and Emerging Market Sovereign Bond Spreads: The Role of Political Institutions, Working Paper No. 2010/179 , July 1, 2010
Boom-Bust Cycle, Asymmetrical Fiscal Response and the Dutch Disease, Working Paper No. 2010/094 , April 1, 2010
Development Accounting and the Rise of TFP, Working Paper No. 2010/101 , April 1, 2010
International Commodity Price Shocks, Democracy, and External Debt, Working Paper No. 2010/053 , March 1, 2010
Tourism Specialization and Economic Development: Evidence from the UNESCO World Heritage List, Working Paper No. 2009/176 , August 1, 2009
An Alternative Explanation for the Resource Curse: The Income Effect Channel, Working Paper No. 2009/112 , May 1, 2009
Global Imbalances and Petrodollars, Working Paper No. 2009/089 , April 1, 2009
Can the Natural Resource Curse Be Turned Into a Blessing? The Role of Trade Policies and Institutions, Working Paper No. 2007/055 , March 1, 2007
The Composition of Capital Flows: Is South Africa Different?, Working Paper No. 2005/040 , March 1, 2005
