NOVAFRICA News: new article on the curse of natural resources in Mozambique published in the AER

Congratulations to NOVAFRICA resident members, Alex Armand, Alexander Coutts, Pedro C. Vicente and Inês Vilela for their article “Does Information Break the Political Resource Curse? Experimental Evidence from Mozambique” published at the American Economic Review, one of the top five journals in economics. Natural resources can have a negative impact on the economy through corruption and civil conflict. The study carried out by the NOVAFRICA team tests whether inclusion and access to information by local communities can prevent this political resource curse. Through a large-scale data collection in the province of Cabo Delgado (Mozambique), the team reached over 2000 households in more than 200 communities. The analysis revealed that information targeting citizens and their involvement in public deliberations increases local mobilization and decreases violence.

Read the full article here.
Read more about this project here.

Watch the video below for a brief explanation of this study.