| Resource endowment is a sizzling issue around the globe.Without,the efficient management of the available resources,the resource-rich nations are found to be financially under-developed.Although,a large number of studies have investigated the resource-curse hypothesis in many countries,however,the literature is insufficient in explaining the role of political institutions,innovation,human capital,trade openness,and energy prices.Therefore,this thesis is an attempt to fill this void by re-investigating the conflicting views on resource-curse theory of natural resource-abundance and development in high-and middle-income countries.Besides,the background of the phenomenon and theoretical support,the thesis consists of three empirical studies to support the hypothesized linkages.This thesis contributes to the theoretical as well as practical literature by examining the 24 high-income resource-rich countries,BRIC economies,and the fastest growing economy i.e.China.Therefore,the abstract can be categorized into the following three parts:Firstly,a study based on the panel of BRIC is an effort to contribute to the existing body of knowledge by examining financial development with the most comprehensive(IMF’s index)in BRIC(Brazil,Russia,China,and India)in a framework of resource endowment theory.By using the maximum data available from 1992 to 2016,short-&long-run relationships are estimated through a cross-section augmented autoregressive distributive lag model(CS-ARDL)along with a common correlated effect mean group(CCEMG).As per the results of the above-mentioned second-generation econometric techniques,political-institutional quality is positively affecting financial development,implying better quality of institutions is strengthening financial development.Whereas,energy prices are negatively affecting financial development.Moreover,the resources are found as a blessing for BRIC economies.Overall,BRIC economies need to control the prices of the energy sector to promote financial development in the future.Secondly,the study is designed to revisit the resource-curse hypothesis by recruiting human capital,innovation,and institutional quality in 24 resource-rich highincome economies.To estimate the linkage of the above-stated hypothesis,the crosssectional autoregressive distributive lag(CS-ARDL),augmented mean group(AMG),and common correlated effect mean group(CCE-MG)estimators are used.Findings suggest the resources as blessings,human capital is promoting financial development(FD),and institutional quality(IQ)is also supportive towards financial development in high-income resource-rich economies.It refers to the efficient use of natural and human resources to achieve development goals by high-income countries in the presence of technological innovation.Thirdly,a study attempts to test the "resource curse" hypothesis in the case of China for the period of 1987-2017.Unlike others,the author re-investigates additional variables such as technological innovation,human capital,and trade openness into the finance demand function.For estimation,the Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test with and without structural breaks and Carrion-i-Silvestre et al.’s(2009)general least-squares based test are used to examine the stationary properties of the variables.Similarly,to examine the presence of the co-integration relationship between financial development and its determinants,the Maki co-integration with multiple structural breaks approach is applied.The empirical results support the presence of the resource curse;that is,that natural resources negatively affect financial development in China.Nonetheless,technological innovation,trade openness,and human capital affect financial development positively.The interaction of human capital and technological innovation is also positively linked with financial development.The empirical findings of all studies have robust policy implications,highlighting the need to promote technological innovation and human capital development for effective use and management of natural resources to promote the development of the financial sector. |
