The natural resource curse? Empirical evidence from Colombia

María Natalia Cantet, Marcela Ibanez, Juan Carlos Muñoz Mora, Tatiana Orozco, Gerhard Riener, Carlos Adrián Saldarriaga Isaza

We investigate the impacts of gold mining on local socio-economic conditions. Taking Antioquia, Colombia, as a case study, our main research question is whether the expansion of gold mining activities is associated with a decrease in poverty and inequality in the region. We study this question from four main perspectives: 

1. The first perspective considers whether gold mining is associated with land use and tenure security changes. Hence we provide evidence on whether gold mining trigger land grabbing (Hausermann et al. 2018).
2. Second, we consider the impact of gold mining on health and examine the effects of gold mining arrival on physical and mental health.  
3. The third aspect that we analyze is the impact of economic opportunities in female empowerment. We expand on existing literature and use an innovative economic experiment; we consider whether women lose voice in household income decisions.
4. We investigate whether individuals are willing to reduce adverse environmental effects associated with economic development projects. Using a natural experiment, we investigate participants’ willingness to sign a petition to halt an infrastructure project in a biodiversity hotspot in Colombia.