The argument that the natural-resource curse is at work in the US rests on the assumption that rising oil and gas production will necessarily crowd out manufacturing, including renewables. But while the argument is increasingly heard, past experience in the US—as well as in Australia, Chile, Norway, and elsewhere—does not support it.
CAMBRIDGE—It would appear reasonable to expect that countries with huge natural-resource wealth (oil, natural gas, minerals, and even agriculture) would have a leg up on less-endowed countries. Yet resource-rich countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America have often failed to achieve the prosperity that some resource-poor islands and peninsulas in East Asia have. Now, some believe that this “resource curse” might be claiming a new and unlikely victim: the United States.