Rentier Economy Research Articles

Sustaining Taxation in Rentier Economies: Evidence from Nigeria

The rentier state thesis was proposed to explain the unique political and economic nature of governance in resource-rich countries starting in the 1970s. The wealth in a rentier state is usually accrued through extraction and selling of valuable natural resources under the full control of the government which is mainly directed by a ruling elite group. Nigeria is described as a ‘rentier state’ as a result of its mono-economy in which oil rents play a dominant part. The paper examines the rentier state syndrome in Nigeria and how it affects tax revenues, which are largely based on non-oil sector development. The Rentier State Theory was adopted as the theoretical framework of the study. A documentary research design was used for the study. Data collection was done using secondary sources while data analysis involved the use of descriptive statistics and content analysis. Findings of the study revealed that oil revenue has over the years surpassed tax revenue and remains the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. It also showed that the imbalance between tax revenues and resource rents in Nigeria is due to quick profits from oil; opportunistic rent seeking and rent grabbing; weak private sector; and the desire by political elites to undermine transparency and accountability that comes with a functional tax system. The study recommends economic diversification, deregulation, digitalization and tax transparency as mechanisms for sustaining tax revenues in Nigeria’s rentier economy.

THE ROLE OF OIL REVENUES TO ENHANCE INTERNATIONAL RESERVES IN IRAQ FOR THE PERIOD (2004-2021)

The important of oil revenues and their role in strengthening international reserves is one of the important topics that have aroused the interest of many researchers, because the revenues from exporting oil crude are subject to fluctuations in size due to their impact on several factors including oil prices crude global and the quantities exported
 and the Iraqi economy is one of the unilateral rentier economies is dependent on only one resource, so it has become necessary to maintain international reserves of an optimal size because of their important role in facing internal and external shocks The problem of the study was the extent of the impact of oil revenues on international reserves in the Iraqi economy for the period (2004-2021).
 The research study relied on the descriptive and analytical method, and modern standard approaches were used (vector auto regression Model) (VAR), and the use of data on oil revenues and international reserves for the period (2004-2021) through the use of the statistical program (Eviews12).
 The study reached a set of conclusions: There is a significant impact of oil revenues in Iraq on the formation and of international reserves, where the relationship between them is positive. The higher the oil revenues, the higher the international reserves, which is a strong relationship, as the decline in international reserves cannot be compensated for, except through the increase in revenues. oil resulting from the rise in oil prices.and the establishment of an investment fund to invest the surplus from international reserves and reduce the opportunity cost.

Measuring the impact of the investment climate on the cost of investment projects using the ARDL model in Iraq

The concept of investment climate is a modern concept that includes a group of factors that affect the investment process, and the importance of investment in the Iraqi economy being a rentier economy that depends entirely on its oil exports. It must be preceded by the creation of a suitable and attractive environment for investment by improving the investment climate. Since the investment decision depends in large part on the total costs of the project, it is necessary to know how the investment climate affects these costs. Accordingly, the study seeks to clarify the effects left by the investment climate factors and thus their impact on the investment decision. The letter concluded that the political, economic, administrative and financial instability are major obstacles to the investment climate in Iraq, and the most important of its recommendations is an attempt to improve the infrastructure of the Iraqi economy, which in turn stimulates the private sector, in addition to the need to formulate the investment law by economists first and coordinate with national strategic policies and study other laws related to investment.

THE IRAQI OIL INDUSTRY: HISTORY AND OVERVIEW

The first attempt at producing oil in Iraq dates to the nineteenth century, when Germany explored oil in Iraq during the period (1860-1880). A series of dramatic changes have occurred in the Iraqi oil sector, as well as the agricultural sector, because of revolutions, conflicts, wars, instability, and uncertainty. The Iran-Iraq war occurred from 1980 to 1988, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the subsequent Gulf War, UN sanctions, the 2003 war, and regional destabilisation caused by the Islamic State terrorist group, contributed to restrictions and underinvestment. Despite the positive effects, such as increased export revenues and development opportunities, resource-rich states are often plagued by the resource curse. Conflicts resulting from resource curse raise serious questions about international security. Poor oil revenue has plagued Iraq’s economy since the second half of the 20th century. Its economy was heavily influenced by the oil sector. However, oil wealth benefits the government first and last, and the Iraqi people appear to benefit little, consequently there are protest demonstrations by citizens in various Iraqi cities against widespread unemployment, poverty, corruption, deterioration of electricity supply, education, health, and the intensification of the housing crises. Due to the lack of other productive sectors such as agriculture, industry, tourism, mining, the Iraqi economy remains a rentier economy based primarily on crude oil exports. Khrushchev used Iraq’s land to threaten the West without consulting the Iraqis. Iraq still faces many threats today as Iran and the United States negotiate the Iranian nuclear issue.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0099/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Revisiting Rentierism through the Lens of Algerian Gas

This paper aims at critically reviewing the concept of rentierism and the Rentier State coined after the oil shocks of the 1970s. It explains that it is the result of a relationship, which properly institutionalized through the market generates a mineral rent. This allows us to argue that the oil price fulfils a systemic role. Finally, this paper assesses the case of Algeria by examining its positioning in the hydrocarbon global value chains, with the aim to draw the conclusions that the future of Algeria as a gas rentier economy is quite unclear, but in the case of a major restructuring of the international gas trade, it could lead to its petrolization.

The political economy of land value capture in the UK: Rent and viability in Salford’s new municipalist turn

This paper contextualises the political economy of land value capture (LVC) within the shift to an increasingly financialised, rentier-dominated capitalism. Contributing to an emerging dialogue between social constructivist planning literature on performativity in LVC and the critical political economy literature on rents and rentiership, we overview Salford's planning policy trajectory in recent decades in order to highlight how the UK planning system has increasingly been reconfigured as a mechanism to increase land values. In doing so, we explore both Salford's shift to neoliberal planning and its municipal socialist counter-turn in recent years, reflecting on how the centrality of LVC to the latter still leaves it dependent on rentier logics. In doing so, we locate these policy conjunctures within the governance dynamics of Britain's transformation into a rentier economy; wherein the stimulation, disbursement and capture of land values have become central objects of spatio-economic policy.

Diffuse informality: uncovering renting within family households as a form of private rental

This paper sheds new light on informal-formal renting through the integration of paying rent to families within a ‘modes’ of renting typology framework. While private rental housing has long comprised a mix of informal and formal practices dualistic conceptions of informality and formality are being challenged as housing research explores emergent family and sharing economies alongside financialized and rentier economies. Well-used concepts of property rights and tenure or de jure occupancy are expanded to incorporate more nuanced measures of de facto occupancy, particularly relating to the family economy in which we argue represents a form of diffuse informality not well captured in national data collections based on tenure alone. Applying this conceptualisation within an Australian survey of more than 2,870 individual renters within the informal-formal market, we find that informal renting within families is pervasive. Our findings are suggestive of structural changes where a sizable cohort of discouraged and tactical renters are locked out of or bypassing mainstream rental markets.

Rent Distribution Modes in Azerbaijan and Belarus: Implications for the Opposition

The study uses the theoretical framework of rentier states to compare the political economies of Belarus and Azerbaijan and the differing conditions created for the political opposition. It conducts a comparative analysis of the structural and agency factors affecting these conditions, focusing on the sources, control and the mode of distribution of rents in the two states. While both states combine post-Soviet legacies with rentier economies, they have different sources of rents. The study shows a ‘converging divergence’ of these two rentier states, based on the analysis of their type (pure rentier or semi-rentier state) and demonstrates the role of power transition in determining the distribution of rents. The combination of these variables, in turn, shapes different types of regimes—exclusive patronage in Azerbaijan and inclusive distributive rent-seeking in Belarus—and creates different tasks for the political opposition in terms of ideology and forming Western alliances.

The tale of the two Sultanates, Oman and Brunei: Foreign policy and bilateral relations

Oman and Brunei are two countries with a long history of sultanic regimes. A sultanate is a kingdom ruled by a Muslim monarch. Because of these two countries’ geopolitical and geostrategic locations, they are very important in global affairs. At the same time, although situated in the highly tense regions of the Middle East and Southeast Asia respectively, Oman and Brunei are generally quite stable. They have recently become involved in China’s global economic project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Using a theory of small states, this article applies a qualitative research methodology focusing mainly on foreign policy analysis in a comprehensive analytical framework. The study uses face-to-face and by-correspondence interviews with government officials from both sultanates. It investigates whether the domestic determinants of small states’ foreign policy directly affect the bilateral relations between the two sultanates. The main finding of this study is that Oman and Brunei have greatly benefited through the establishment of a satisfactory bilateral relationship based mainly on four pillars from the list of determinants of small states’ foreign policy: historical connectivity, an Islamic monarchical dynastic system of governance, a state rentier economy, and shared foreign policy principles.

Sustaining the External Debt of Post-Armed Conflict Countries Reality and Challenges "The Lebanese Case": استدامة الدين الخارجي لدول ما بعد النزاعات المسلحة الواقع والتحديات "الحالة اللبنانيّة"

This research aimed at studying the proposed legal and financial mechanisms to solve the financial crisis that Lebanon is witnessing, while maintaining the economic, financial and monetary strength of the Lebanese state, by relying on the descriptive analytical approach that fits with the nature of the research by collecting data and information on the Lebanese public debt, its sustainability, and its impact on The Lebanese economic and social realities, leading to the most prominent results represented in the countries emerging from armed conflicts asking to contribute to their development and reconstruction, which leads to these countries falling into the trap of indebtedness and financial and political crises. Similar to what happened in the Lebanese case under study, thus staying in the same cycle through the continuity of loan requests and then imposing new extremely difficult conditions aimed at putting pressure on the “debtor” state. Therefore, work must be done to present an integrated recovery plan for the Lebanese economy that works to transform it from a rentier economy into a productive economy, and to work to reduce interest rates in Lebanese banks, whether in local or foreign currencies, and work to encourage and attract private foreign investments by creating an appropriate legal and economic environment, and moving away from for external loans as much as possible.

How Do the Crises of Falling Oil Prices and COVID-19 Affect Economic Sectors in the Rentier Economies? Evidence from the GCC Countries

This study analyses the impacts of unprecedented falling oil prices and the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 on the stock markets of GCC countries – countries considered as natural resources-based rentier economies. To this end, the research uses daily data for 295 companies under the categories of services, industrial, and financial sectors in GCC countries from January 1, 2020, to February 23, 2021. The analysis was conducted over two phases. The first phase extended from January 1, 2020, to July 30, 2020, while the second phase extended from August 01, 2020, to February 23, 2021. The research utilised 18 random effect models in each phase to capture the impact of the oil price crisis and COVID-19 outbreak on each economic sector in each of the GCC countries. This study’s findings reveal that the decline in oil prices and the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic were strong in the first phase, while this impact diminished in most economic sectors in the Gulf countries in the second phase. However, the GCC countries have not been impacted equally by the crisis of falling oil prices and the COVID-19 outbreak. The results show that the hardest-hit countries are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, respectively, while the least impacted countries are Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Furthermore, the sector-wise analysis results reveal that the industrial sector in Saudi Arabia is the sector most affected by the oil price crisis, and the financial sector in Saudi Arabia is the sector most impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak in the GCC countries.

The Ownership of Oil, Democracy, and Iraq’s Past, Present, and Future

We show that the share of oil in real output is relatively large, nearly 60 percent. Effectively, the government of Iraq– not the people – owns and manages the oil wealth. This dependence on oil as the main income is also consistent with the rentier economy and the Resource Curse phenomenon. The interest elasticity of oil production with respect to global oil consumption is greater than one. This high dependence on oil as income and the sensitivity of oil production to global oil consumption would not be sustainable in the future, where there is a growing global aversion to hydrocarbon production and consumption. The developed countries aim at zero carbon by 2050. We show that the expected decline in global consumption of oil has an adverse effect on the Iraqi economy. We provide stress tests and produce dynamic stochastic projections from 2020-2050 under a number of adverse scenarios. A quick transfer of ownership of oil to the Iraqi people should guarantee a functional democracy and a better future for the Iraqis.

مركز دراسات البصرة والخليج العربي / جامعة البصرة

Iraq faces great challenges, the most important of which are terrorism, economic corruption, and the rentier economy. The countries have disintegrated and collapsed after 2003 after the US occupation and the change of the previous political regime. The Iraqi economy has faced rampant corruption in various economic sectors, economic mafias, and the inability of successive Iraqi governments to address the imbalances in the Iraqi economy, and then terrorist organizations spread. Conflicts, destruction, displacement, and large financial spending on military operations and on fictitious and unproductive projects began since 2003 until Iraq’s victory over terrorism, which destroyed the country and the people, especially the Western regions of Iraq. Accordingly, the start of comprehensive economic reform, while limiting the phenomenon of financial and administrative corruption in the joints of the economic sectors in Iraq, and the reconstruction of cities and areas liberated from terrorist gangs, as well as developing appropriate plans and strategies to enhance the economy’s ability to advance the deteriorating reality and depends mainly on oil revenues. , and this needs to expedite the development of solutions and treatments to advance the economic reality, through diversifying the Iraqi economy in order to increase and diversify exports, reduce imports to provide hard currencies derived from oil revenues, encourage foreign investments in various economic sectors, and build adequate housing for the majority of the Iraqi people who suffer From economic corruption, terrorist operations, and building an economy that depends primarily on local natural and human resources.

The Foundational Economy as a Cornerstone for a Social–Ecological Transformation

This theoretical paper synthesises research on the foundational economy and its contribution to a social–ecological transformation. While foundational thinking offers rich concepts and policies to transition towards such transformation, it fails to grasp the systematic non-sustainability of capitalism. This weakness can be overcome by enriching contemporary foundational thinking with feminist and ecological economics. Whereas the feminist critique problematises foundational thinking’s focus on paid labour, the ecological critique targets Sen’s capability approach as a key inspiration of foundational thinking, arguing that a theory of human needs is better suited to conceptualise wellbeing within planetary boundaries. Based on this, we outline a novel schema of economic zones and discuss their differentiated contributions to the satisfaction of human needs. By privileging need satisfaction, such broadened foundational thinking demotes the tradable sector and rentier economy, thereby revaluating unpaid work as well as respecting ecological imperatives. This empowers new articulations of social and ecological struggles to improve living conditions in the short run, while having the potential in the long run to undermine capitalism from within.

The Context of Inconclusive Elections and the Implications for Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria

This paper examines the phenomenon of inconclusive elections witnessed in the polity since 2011 but with increased frequency since 2015, a development that has put the electoral management body on the spot light. Since the conclusion of the 2015 General elections, there have been seven off-cycle governorship elections, three of these elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Osun state were initially declared inconclusive. In the 2019 General Election, six governorship contest in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Plateau and Sokoto were determined inconclusive, this is beside the stalemate in River state. Does the increase in inconclusive elections signal progress or regression in the electoral process? What role has the ‘margin of lead’ principle and other factors such as violence play in the increased number of inconclusive elections in 2019? What are the cost and implications of the widespread nature of inconclusive elections for democratic consolidation? This paper interrogates these questions against a backdrop of mercantilist politics and a rentier economy and contends that the root cause of increased inconclusive elections is traceable to the inordinate ambitions of political gladiators and their desperation to win at all cost that is fueled by the prebendal character of the Nigerian state. The paper concludes that impersonal application of the electoral law and guidelines can only enhance the integrity of the electoral process and strengthen democracy regardless of the associated social and financial cost of inconclusive elections. The methodology is qualitative in approach, data was analysed using the thematic and content analysis style.

‘Go! You are Free!’: rentier politics and the gift logic of the royal pardon in Morocco

ABSTRACT This paper discusses royal pardons and other patronal graces in Morocco as forms of gifting that borrow their logic from Islamic teachings, and protocols binding ar-rā’I (ruler) and ar-ri’āya (subjects). The moment they begin to engage mixed feelings and analyses from politicians, activists, academics, and the general public they give rise to stormy debates, with as of yet unsettled disputes in the thick of social and political tensions in Morocco (from the post-2011 uprisings to the recent al-hirak of El Huceima, to other instances of social unrest (boycotts of consumables, struggles over human rights infringements)). As we posit the debate on rentier economy and politics in the hub of existing theoretical insights on gift-giving, we launch the particularities, subtleties, and dualities of the gift in general as both desirable and undesirable, pure and impure, honouring and humiliating, and the royal gift in particular as a neopatrimonialist act that hinges on referentiality and preferentiality. We draw on examples of potential royal grace receivers (classic criminals, political activists, Rif hirakists, amateur gift hunters, and professional smayria (professional hunters of the royal gift)) as touchstones for rethinking how patronal gifts are sent (as envois), received and lost midway. In the end, we conclude that gifting, far from being about sharing what one has, is about fighting with what one has.

The 2017 independence referendum and the political economy of Kurdish nationalism in Iraq

In September 2017, the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq held a referendum for independence despite the high likelihood of heavy retaliation. In contrast to the narrative that presents that decision as the result of gross miscalculation, this article offers an alternative explanation highlighting the role played by Kurdish nationalism in upholding the structures of power of the region. The current class structure, institutional framework and rentier economy of Iraqi Kurdistan had their origins in the 1990s when Kurdish forces gained permanent control of the region. The new ruling class that developed in that decade had a profoundly extractive character and based its power on a strategy of appropriation of the public resources pursued through the control of the political institutions and security forces. The 2017 independence referendum must be understood as an attempt to thwart the threat to this social arrangement represented by a wave of popular protests. These events reveal the profound connection between Kurdish nationalism and the region’s class structure. They also allow us to appreciate the – often neglected – political agency of the subaltern classes in a rentier society.

Algeria: Democratic Transition in the Context of Economic Failure

This study reassesses the experience of political openness in Algeria within the analytical and explanatory categories of political economy. It is built on the premise that the transition from a totalitarian authoritarian regime to a democratic one presupposes the transition from a rentier economy linked to the external market and dominated by rentier groups, to a productive economy based on the national bourgeoisie exploitation of local labour to create wealth. The study argues that the experience of democratic transition in Algeria faltered due to the failure of the rentier groups to undergo capitalist transformation that could have allowed the emergence of the two main sides of the democratic equation: the bourgeoisie and the working class. The political elites that control the rentier economy were willing to accept political but not economic reforms that could have led to a reconsideration of the hegemonic relations within society and liberated it from the grip of power. In this regard, the failure of the economic reforms introduced by the Hamrouche government (1989-1991) was a prelude to the disruption of the democratic transition and prevention of the development of a civil society capable of gaining its independence from authority and, on the other hand, the independence of the Algerian state from the global market.

Sustainable agricultural development in Iraq after 2003 (Vision for the future)

Sustainable development is based on the principle that the use of current economic resources in the future guarantees the rights of future generations, as the focus is not on the optimal use of resources, but depends mainly on the fair distribution of resources and the willingness to abandon present desires in order to give the economy and future generations the ability to cope with various shocks. The concept of sustainable agricultural development, which focused on the state of positive permanence in the agricultural sector and the provision of components for its progress and its role in supporting the economy as a leading sector for economic development, in a way that corrects the existing idea of many that (industrialization is the basis of development), that this focus on agriculture does not negate the importance of the industrial sector. Focusing on sustainable agricultural development achieves positive progress in support of food security and addressing various obstacles such as scarcity of water resources and a decrease in arable areas being the most important in addition to the development of livestock. The agricultural sector in Iraq suffered many difficulties that affected its contribution to the structure of the gross domestic product. It also suffered from severe neglect due to the rentier economy that depends on the mining sector without paying attention to the rest of the sectors.

Warlord Politics and Economic Clientelism in Lebanon

Since October 2019, Lebanon has been going through a deep economic and financial crisis that drove the country to a political meltdown. Facing a severe recession, high inflation and unemployment, nationwide protests in the aftermath of the Beirut explosion in August 2020 have led to the resignation of Hassan Diab’s cabinet – the second government to resign within the span of a few months. This article studies the interplay of the political, economic, and social factors that led to the current economic and political crisis. We show how warlord politics, and a corporate consociational system have misguided incentives and policies and consolidated a rentier economy that inevitably led to the current situation.