[dredmorbius]

I've got to mull this one over a bit. After several decades of study, I'm just starting to really grok money and finance.

Notable WRT resources curse / Dutch disease is the Norwegian counterexample: http://ideas.repec.org/p/ssb/dispap/377.html

[bh42222]

Norway had a strong law and order foundation before they hit oil.

[gwern]

True, but the article the other day on Norway said that they squandered the oil up until the 1970s? when they brought in a foreigner to advise them on how to set up their current successful system. The law and order helped them recover from their mistakes, yes, but it didn't stop them from making them and if the oil had run out before they recovered...?