Do Natural Resources also Curse Environmental Performance? An Empirical Cross-Country Analysis

Abstract

本文的主要研究目的是在探討「自然資源詛咒」理論是否也適用在國家的環境表現？學界與實務均同意一般自然資源秉賦較高且依賴度較高的國家，通常在政治、經濟與社會發展上都會有較差的表現，且這個觀察不僅限於開發中國家，先進國家也會承受程度不一的影響。然而過去自然資源詛咒的研究較少觸及當前日益受到重視的環境表現問題，因此使得其論述受到一定程度的限制。本文認為一國欲依賴其自然資源時，其環境表現表現愈差。這種負向關係奠基在自然資源導致國家產業集中在造成污染的開採業，以及經濟誘因優先於環境保護的直接解釋，與高度依賴豐富自然資源秉賦會削弱國家治理能力，並因此波及環境表現的間接解釋上。上述的論證經由1980∼2015年共214個國家或政治實體的計量數據檢視以後得到印證。本文並對此分別針對自然資源與環境表現提出政策與理論上的建議。

This paper aims at exploring whether or not the argument of the ＂natural resource curse＂ theory also applies to environmental performance. Both academia and policy practitioners all agree that countries with abundant natural resource endowments that significantly rely on these endowments tend to perform poorly in political, economic and social development. This observation not only applies to developing states, but also to advanced ones. However, few scholars have paid attention to the effects of natural resources on environmental governance, which is an issue that has become prominent in recent decades. This deficiency suggests a gap between the argument of the resource curse thesis and the breadth of its application. This article proposes that countries that rely more on these natural resources also have worse environmental performance. Such anegative relationship is based on two direct explanations-that natural resources encourage states to concentrate on extractive industrial sectors that usually cause environmental damage, and economic incentives from natural resource exploitation outweigh incentives to protect the environment. In addition, one further indirect explanation is that higher reliance on abundant natural resource endowments weakens state capacity, thus damaging environmental governance. Based on empirical evidence using data for 214 countries or political entities for the period 1980-2015, such an argument is statistically confirmed. This article offers practical and theoretical contributions to both the natural resource curse and environmental governance.