Publications
Is the agricultural sector cursed too? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa, with Julien Wolfersberger and Pierre-André Jouvet, World Developement, 2021. [Full paper here]
This paper investigates the effect of extractive resources on labor agricultural productivity. Do wealth brough by the exploitation of oil, gas, coal or other minerals help raise agricultural productivity and thus reduce poverty? We find that gains from extractive resources (due to increase in commodity prices or discovery of the resources) lead to a decline in labor agricultural productivity and we investigate three underlying channels. First, the lack of manufacturing may hinders agricultural modernization. Second, we find a negative effect in countries with an autocratic regimes and not in democratic ones. Third, we find no countrerbalanceing potentiel effect of terms of trade, suggesting that even gains from the resources do not compensate the negative effect of extractive resources. In terms of policy recommandation, this paper questions the competition between agricultural resources and extractive resources.