A Comparative Study Of Russian And Australian Resource Patterns From The Perspective Of “Resource Curse”

As an essential investment of material production, natural resources have been regarded as the material fundamental of national economic development. Thus it stands to reason that natural resources have played crucial parts in national economy. With continuous prosperity, the resources departments of Russia and Australia, which are both rich in resources, have been integral parts of their national economies since new millennium approached. In this sense, the resource economies of Russia and Australia are of vital importance for their respective national economies. The "resource curse" doctrine, which sprang up in the1980s, maintains that countries rich in natural resources cannot stand a long and stable economy as abundant resources would hinder the national economic and social development. Afterwards, much attention from the academia and politicians has been drawn to this standpoint. In view of the fact that the "resource curse" doctrine emphasizes the negative correlation between the abundance of natural resources and economic growth, this thesis makes a try to clearly sort out the major logic and the theoretical point of this doctrine. Meanwhile, this thesis is intended to conduct a comparative study of Russian and Australian resource endowment and resource economic model. For an all-round comparison, this thesis, from the perspective of "resource curse" doctrine, attempts at a comprehensive evaluation of the strength and weakness of the economic patterns for both countries by analyzing the deterioration of international trade, Dutch disease effects, institution weakening and the crowding-out of human capital. Besides, the deep roots of their different performances will be explored respectively. Based on the theoretical summary and case studies, this thesis intends to analyze the explanatory power as well as the insufficiency of the "resource curse" doctrine. On the basis of relevant researches, this thesis also puts forward some strategy and policy suggestion to respond to the impact of rich natural resources for both countries.