Natural resources and the tenth five year plan: Hopes and realities
Abstract The tenth Soviet five year plan projected increased extraction of mineral resources and improved utilization of those resources. Through 1976 and 1977, actual production closely parallelled planned production in most resources. Even so, 1978 was a critical year for Soviet resources production, and may determine whether the goals of the tenth plan are achieved. Other areas of Soviet resource policy which are discussed include the drive to accelerate Siberian and far eastern development, the effort to improve capital and manpower efficiency, the attempt to improve resource use and reduce non-essential consumption, and the effort to import advanced extractive technology and capital. The article concludes with the observation that with the difficulties facing the Soviet extractive industries, the tenth plan may be the last which projects and strives for a rapid expansion of the Soviet resource base.
Soviet resources policy: Foreign investment, resources and the tenth five-year plan
Abstract The author examines the plans for natural resources embodied in the USSR's 10th five year plan, 1975–1980. Problems of capital and manpower have forced the USSR to curtail the very ambitious resources programmes which were mooted in the early 1960s. Foreign investment is seen as one possible means of raising production and agreements have been signed with Western companies for over 50 development projects. More important still, the countries of Comecon have invested heavily in Soviet natural resources.
Deliberative Democracy and the Resource Curse: A Nationwide Experiment in Tanzania
Oil and gas discoveries in developing countries are often associated with short-sighted economic policies and, in response, calls to insulate resource management from populist impulses. We report on a randomized experiment testing methods to overcome this apparent tension between sound resource governance and democratic politics. Soon after Tanzania’s discovery of major natural gas reserves, we invited a nationally representative sample of voters to an intensive public deliberation of policy options featuring nationally recognized experts and small-group discussions. Democratic deliberation reinforced the public’s strong preference for rapid spending of gas revenues, but also increased support for various prudential and economically orthodox measures, including independent oversight of gas revenues, limits on government borrowing, and selling gas abroad rather than subsidizing fuel at home. These effects were driven by deliberation per se, rather than a pure information treatment, and show no evidence of contamination by facilitatoror peer-effects in group deliberations. www.cgdev.org Justin Sandefur, Nancy Birdsall, James Fishkin, and Mujobu Moyo