Natural resources decrease income inequality in resource-rich countries

(Ural Federal University) A group of researchers from Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland contest the common belief that resource-based economies have higher levels of within-country inequality than resource-scarce economies. The researchers document a direct causal link between natural resources and within-country inequality and conclude that the extraction of oil and gas can reduce inequality or has no significant effect on it. The results were published in the journal Empirical Economics.
Source: EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news