The paradox of easy wealth, weak nations, and the silent advantage of scarcity
For decades, oil has been viewed as the ultimate economic blessing. A natural lottery ticket. Black gold beneath the soil promising prosperity, power, and permanence.
And yet, history tells a far more uncomfortable story.
Many of the world’s most oil-rich countries — Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq, Angola, Libya — have underperformed economically, politically, and socially over long periods. Meanwhile, countries with little or no natural resources — Japan, South Korea, Germany, Taiwan — have built resilient, innovative, and wealthy societies.
This contradiction is known as the resource curse. But the phrase understates what is really happening.
This is not a curse.
It is a structural distortion.