Uncovering Norway’s regional disparities with respect to natural riches

Authors

  • Sevil Acar Istanbul Kemerburgaz University
  • Burhan Can Karahasan Piri Reis University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18335/region.v2i1.34

Keywords:

natural resources, regional development, panel data analysis

Abstract

This study aims at unveiling regional development differences in Norway with respect to various natural resource-based activities that take place in the NUTS 3 regions. Norway’s natural riches range from agricultural and forest resources to fisheries, mines, petroleum and gas. Considering the possible spatial links for various regional characteristics of the Norwegian economy, this study does not only reveal the wide-ranging distribution of resource-based activities, but also sheds light on divergent income and population patterns in the Norwegian regions. Besides, these patterns are investigated through a number of models that test the impact of employment, investment and value added in natural resource sectors on regional differences. The main findings suggest that mining and quarrying as well as oil and gas extraction activities generate significant advantages for regional income generation whereas each resource type affects the distribution of population in a different way.

Author Biographies

Sevil Acar, Istanbul Kemerburgaz University

Department of Economics

Burhan Can Karahasan, Piri Reis University

Department of Economics and Finance

References

Acar, S. and Zola, J. (2012) Natural Resource Abundance - Regional Blessing or Curse?. In: U. Izmen (Ed) Symposium Book of The First Symposium on Regional Dynamics in Development: The Strategies and Practices from Global to Local, TURKONFED, Istanbul

Auty, R. (1993) Sustaining Development in Mineral Economies: The Resource Curse Thesis. Oxford University Press, New York

Auty, R. (2001) Resource Abundance and Economic Development, World Institute for Development Economics Research, Oxford University Press

Auty R. (2007) Patterns of Rent-Extraction and Deployment in Developing Countries: Implications for Governance, Economic Policy and Performance. In: G. Mavrotas and A. Shorrocks (Eds), Advancing Development: Core Themes in Global Economics, Palgrave: London

Borge, L-E., Parmer, P. and Torvik, R. (2012) Local Natural Resource Curse?, presented at European Economic Association & Econometric Society 2012 Parallel Meetings, 27 - 31 August 2012, Málaga, Spain

Brunnschweiler, C.N. (2008) Cursing the blessings? Natural resource abundance, institutions, and economic growth. World Development 36(3): 399–419

Carson, D. (2009) Is the Northern Territory in a ‘Staples Trap’? Charles Darwin University, School for Social and Policy Research, Population Studies Research Brief, Issue Number: 2009038

Fagerberg, J., Mowery, D.C., Verspagen, B. (2009) Introduction: innovation in Norway. In: Fagerberg, J., Mowery, D., Verspagen, B. (Eds.), Innovation, Path Dependency, and Policy. Oxford University Press, Oxford

Freeman, D. G. (2009) The 'Resource Curse' and regional US development, Applied Economics Letters, 16 (5): 527 — 530

Goldberg, E., Wibbels, E. and Myukiyehe, E. (2008) Lessons from Strange Cases: Democracy, Development, and the Resource Curse in the U.S. States, Comparative Political Studies 41: 477-514

Innis, H. A. (1930) The Fur Trade in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Innis, H. A. (1956) The teaching of economic history in Canada. In: M. Q. Innis (ed.), Essays in Canadian Economic History, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Krugman, P. R. (1991) Increasing returns and economic geography, Journal of Political Economy, 99: 483-499

Mehlum, H., Moene, K. and Torvik, R. (2012) Mineral Rents and Social Development in Norway. In: K. Hujo (ed.), Mineral Rents and the Financing of Social Policy: Opportunities and Challenges, United Kingdom: Palgrave.

OECD. (2011) Economic Policy Reforms 2011: Going for Growth, OECD Publishing.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/growth-2011-en

Rattsø, J. and Stokke, H. (2011) Migration and dynamic agglomeration economies: Regional income growth in Norway, presented at the 6th Meeting of the Urban Economics Association, at the 58th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) November 9-12, 2011, Miami, FL.

Roll, M. (2011) Resource Governance, Development and Democracy in the Gulf of Guinea, In: Roll, M. and Sperling, S. (Eds), Fuelling the World – Failing the Region? Oil Governance and Development in Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, 2011, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Sachs, J. D., and Warner, A.M. (1997) Natural resource abundance and economic growth. Working Paper 5398. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research and Harvard University.

Sachs, J. D., and Warner, A.M. (1999) Natural Resource Intensity and Economic Growth. In: Mayer Jörg, Chambers Brian, and Ayisha Farooq (Eds), Development Policies in Natural Resource Economics, Ch.2. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton Massachusetts: Edward Elgar.

Sæther, B., Isaksen, A., and Karlsen, A. (2011) Innovation by co-evolution in natural resource industries: The Norwegian experience. Geoforum, 42: 373–381

Watkins, M. H. (1963) A Staple Theory of Economic Growth, The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 29 (2): 141-158

Downloads

Additional Files

Published

2015-03-27

How to Cite

Acar, S. and Karahasan, B. C. (2015) “Uncovering Norway’s regional disparities with respect to natural riches”, REGION. Vienna, Austria, 2(1), pp. 1–31. doi: 10.18335/region.v2i1.34.

Issue

Section

Articles
Share