How Natural Resource Frontiers Impact Economic Development

What is it about?

This article explains how the abundance of natural resource and land frontiers in developing countries have a major impact on the pattern of development. Although geographers and other social scientists have noted this phenomenon, it has largely been ignored in economics in recent thinking on development. This article explains in a non-technical way why such frontier expansion matters to economic development in contemporary developing countries, with a view towards historical examples.

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Why is it important?

The impact of natural resource scarcity on economic development is well-documented in economics. However, economists have largely ignored the implications of abundant natural resource and land frontiers on contemporary low and middle-income economies. Yet, the presence of these frontiers leads to distinct patterns of economic development, especially in these regions of abundant land and natural resources relative to labor and capital. This article explains the economic consequences of this pattern, especially the tendency of these regions to have both large, commercial-oriented activities alongside small-scale, subsistence-oriented farming.

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