Authors: Leonidas Vatikiotis

Title: The consequences from the exploitation of Greek hydrocarbons into the frame of the dilemma “curse or blessing?”

Abstract

Contrary to the past, when the exploitation of natural resources was supposed that leads automatically to social prosperity, the last decades has been developed a debate about the gains of each country which has natural resources. This discussion in brief is around the dilemma “curse or blessing”?

The arguments of those who characterize natural resources as an impediment for the development of a county are grounded on recent experience about: the revaluation of the national currency which means barriers for the exports, the disappearance of high skills jobs and, the most important, the increased vulnerability following the direction of the prices of the commodities.

In this frame I will examine the consequences in Greece of the agreed exploitation of hydrocarbons in Ionian and Cretan sea.

Frankel Jeffrey (2010) The Natural Resource Curse: A Survey, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working paper 15836, March.

Frederick (Rick) van der Ploeg (2010) Natural resources: Curse or Blessing? CESIFO Working paper No. 3125.

Michael Ross (2014) What we have learned about the resource curse?