Assessing and Remedying the Natural Resource Curse in Equatorial Guinea

Abstract: This thesis identifies and studies the effects of the natural resource curse on Equatorial Guinea by applying three typical theoretical phenomena to the Equatoguinean context: Dutch Disease, volatility of prices and institutional effects. The results show that Equatorial Guinea has very weak institutions and suffers from symptoms of Dutch Disease, but that the country so far has managed to avoid the debt burden related to the volatility of oil prices. It is concluded that Equatorial Guinea is negatively affected by the natural resource curse. Finally, possible remedies are discussed and the importance of improving the institutional framework is underlined.