Natural Resources and Economic Development

Why is natural resource exploitation not yielding greater benefits to the poor economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America? This book's historical review of resource use and development examines current theories explaining under-performance of today's resource-abundant economies. After developing models to analyze the key economic factors underlying land expansion and water use in developing countries, Edward Barbier explores their resource dependency, rural poverty and resource degradation and proposes reforms for successful resource-based development.

Edward B. Barbier is currently the John S. Bugas Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming. He has over twenty years' experience as an environmental and resource economist, working mainly on the economics of environment and development issues.