Natural Resource Endowments, Governance, and the Domestic Revenue Effort: Evidence from a Panel of Countries

Author/Editor:

John Thornton ; Fabian Bornhorst ; Sanjeev Gupta

Publication Date:

July 1, 2008

Electronic Access:

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Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary:

The recent development literature stresses that countries that receive large revenues from natural resource endowments typically raise less revenue from domestic taxation, and that this creates governance problems because the lower domestic tax effort reduces the incentive for the public scrutiny of government. Our results from a panel of 30 hydrocarbon producing countries indicate that the offset between hydrocarbon revenues and revenues from other domestic sources is about 20 percent but that it is invariant to governance indicators.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2008/170

Subject:

English

Publication Date:

July 1, 2008

ISBN/ISSN:

9781451870282/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2008170

Pages:

10

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