High rent creates contests for its capture that, unless skilfully managed, degrade political institutions and distort the economy, leading to a collapse of growth if unreformed. Mauritania's projected oil stream risks such an outcome because past rent-driven growth has left a legacy of Dutch...

According to rent-cycling theory, low rent aligns the interests of the elite and the majority in providing public goods and efficiency incentives to promote economic growth, while high rent risks deflecting the elite into self-enriching rent deployment, which distorts the economy and triggers a...