Oil rent and the state: economic diversification in a small economy (Ecuador 1972–2017)
Pedro Alarcón
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) Ecuador
By including the state into the ongoing academic debates if oil is a blessing or a curse, the dissertation advocates for a further dimension to approach the relentless quest of development in natural resources’ rich countries. Since economic diversification has been regarded as the epitome of development within oil dependent countries for the last decades, the dissertation tackles with fifty years of recent Ecuadorian economic history. The diachronic comparative approach of two oil booms, 1) during the 1970s, and 2) coinciding with the 21stcentury commodities’ boom (2003-2014), shows continuities and ruptures within state’s enterprise. Debatable outcomes of economic diversification as well as temporary achievements regarding social and economic indicators are pictured from an economic perspective. Though, the discussion of the outcomes and structural explanations are approached from a broader perspective which includes external conditions and domestic circumstances. The first oil boom is mainly approached through a political economy perspective which highlights the importance of oil within the ongoing capitalist modernization project. On the other hand, a political ecology perspective supplies the adequate tools to approach the second oil boom, since it emphasizes the evolution of the views of development which manifested since the beginning of the new century.
Keywords: Latin America, nature, state, development, extractivism, rent