Resource Endowment and Local Provision of Public Goods: Assessing the Resource Curse in China.

The resource curse thesis contends that countries endowed with rich natural resources such as fuel and minerals tend to neglect the development of human capital. Although China as a whole does not suffer major symptoms of the resource curse, many of its regions host rich natural resources and heavily rely on them for the growth of local economy. Does resource endowment decrease these local rentier states' incentive to invest in human capital? This paper explores the effects of resource dependence on local provision of such public goods as education and health care. Through cross-provincial and longitudinal data analysis and case studies of selected mining areas, this study finds that resource-rich regions tend to underperform in providing the public goods crucial for the development of human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]