Re-Examination of the Existence of "Resource Curse" : A Spatial Heterogeneity Perspective

This paper aims to verify the existence of "resource curse" with the proposed new model, named generalized weighted least squares support vector panel regression model, from the perspective of spatial heterogeneity, in response to the debate of scholars. Our case study focuses on the data of 31 regions in China from 2009 to 2018. The results show that the impact of natural resources on economic growth has spatial correlation and heterogeneity, and different proxy variables have different conclusions. Overall, it is easier to conclude that there is a "resource curse" by using resource dependence as a substitute variable for natural resources than by resource abundance. Using per capita GDP as the proxy variable of economic growth is easier to get the conclusion that there is no "resource curse" than per capita GDP growth rate. We conclude that "resource curse" does exist in some regions of China with obvious spatial differences