The paradox of pipelines: economic and political effects of transit wealth

The paradox of pipelines: economic and political effects of transit wealth Public Deposited

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Rice, Brandon
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies, Russian, Eurasian and East European Concentration

Abstract

This article investigates the impact oil and gas pipelines have had on the political and economic development countries such as Ukraine and Belarus. The article uses post-Soviet Ukraine as a case study to develop a transit curse theory highlighting the negative effects of transit revenues. This transit curse in many ways operates similarly to the well-known resource curse, disrupting healthy economic growth and preventing the establishment of responsible governance. The example of Ukraine shows that even once the transit revenues are effectively removed, the legacy of the formal and informal institutions built up by those revenues continues to hinder healthy economic growth and accountable governance.

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