民主、自然資源與經濟發展：一個混合研究法途徑的分析

In recent years, though the ＂(natural) resource curse＂ thesis-natural resources have negative impact on economic development-becomes popular, the consensus about whether natural resources promote or dampen economic development does not exist among scholars. This paper argues that the effects of natural resources on economic development is conditional upon political systems. The negative influences of natural resources on development can be offset by democracy, because democratic regimes tend to distribute public goods, have better quality of governance and higher possibility of diversifying the economic system. These characteristics enable the states to avoid the curse brought by natural resources in the development process. This paper gains empirical support by firstly applying the ＂time-series cross-sectional method＂ to examine all states' economic performance over the 1960-2016 period, and then by comparing two sub-Saharan African states, Ghana and Cameroon, through ＂the most similar method＂ design. This paper has both academic and policy implications.