Natural Resources Endowment and Economic Growth in the Southeastern United States

Abstract

Using forest concentration data from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, this paper test whether or not the low-level of economic growth is related to forest resource intensity and Dutch Disease. Specifically, cross sectional data from 815 counties are used to evaluate how changes personal income growth is affected by concentration of forestry resources, government and business investment, educational investment and consumption. We find evidence that the county economies in the South may suffer from Dutch Disease.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,