Can East Timor Avoid the Resource Curse?
Printable PDF version of this editorial, with pictures (271K) Around the world, many countries, including East Timor, have oil and gas under their territory. These can provide tremendous wealth for some citizens of the country, and for the companies which extract and sell the oil and gas (petroleum). But in most nations, the wealth does not benefit most of the people, and developing the petroleum resources can cause more harm than good. This is especially true for nations which did not have a well-established government, long democratic traditions, and a strong and diverse economy before they began to sell their petroleum. (See LH Bulletin Vol. 5, No. 1 “Oil Money Requires Good Management”, and LH Bulletin Vol. 3, No. 5). If East Timor is to be the exception to this pattern, we must first understand why many people around the world, from Venezuela to Nigeria to Aceh, believe that they would be better off if oil had never been discovered in their territory. In rich, industrialized count
