EIJS Working Paper Series,
Stockholm School of Economics, The European Institute of Japanese Studies

Abstract: Timor-Leste is among the youngest nations in the world. It started its independence under difficult circumstances: poverty is widespread, education is poor, the industrial sector is non-existent, and political turbulence is on the rise. On the positive side, future oil revenues are predicted to be substantial, which could potentially be of large help in Timor-Leste’s strive for development. This paper examines critically the possibility for Timor-Leste to use oil revenues to achieve economic development. It describes how difficult it is to estimate the future revenues because of volatile prices, territorial disputes, and insufficient seismological mapping. It continues with a discussion of the “resource curse”: the difficulty of combining natural resources with economic development. Moreover, the particular challenges for Timor Leste’s development are dealt with at some length, as are possible ways to avoid the resource curse.

Keywords: Timor-Leste; Oil; Resource Curse; Economic Development

JEL-codes: L71; O13; O53

27 pages, October 1, 2006

Full text files

eijswp0229.pdf  Full text

Download statistics

Published as

Mats Lundahl and Fredrik Sjöholm, (2008), 'THE OIL RESOURCES OF TIMOR-LESTE: CURSE OR BLESSING?', The Pacific Review, vol 21, no 1, pages 67-86

• Stockholm School of Economics, The European Institute of Japanese Studies
• Ordering Working Papers
• Home page for this series

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Nanhee Lee ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

RePEc:hhs:eijswp:0229This page generated on 2024-09-13 22:14:31.