No. 18/2013: Property Rights, Oil and Income Levels:Over a Century of Evidence
Abstract
We investigate the effects of different regimes of control rights over oil exploitation on aggregate domestic income. We construct a new panel dataset on petroleum ownership structures for up to 68 countries between 1867-2008, distinguishing among regimes of Domestic
Control, Foreign Control, and international Partnerships. Results show that Partnerships
tend to generate higher domestic income than Foreign and Domestic Control. This result
is robust to controlling for political regimes (i.e. democracy, anocracy, autocracy), time
effects, and other factors. Existing theories of incomplete contracts capture several aspects,
but not the general mechanism underlying the relationships between aggregate domestic
income and control regimes in primary sectors.
JEL Classification: D23; F20; O13