Papers by Lorenzo Pellegrini
The Institute of Social Studies is Europe's longest-established centre of higher education and re... more The Institute of Social Studies is Europe's longest-established centre of higher education and research in development studies. On 1 July 2009, it became a University Institute of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). Postgraduate teaching programmes range from six-week diploma courses to the PhD programme. Research at ISS is fundamental in the sense of laying a scientific basis for the formulation of appropriate development policies. The academic work of ISS is disseminated in the form of books, journal articles, teaching texts, monographs and working papers. The Working Paper series provides a forum for work in progress which seeks to elicit comments and generate discussion. The series includes academic research by staff, PhD participants and visiting fellows, and award-winning research papers by graduate students.
Corruption is recognised as a major stumbling block to development and is associated with injusti... more Corruption is recognised as a major stumbling block to development and is associated with injustice and abuse of power. The consensus on the detrimental effects of corruption stands in contrast with the lack of agreement on the set of phenomena that fall under the heading 'corruption' and there is little discussion on whether the economics of corruption should also include corruption in the private sector. This question is relevant since different foci will have different theoretical bases and policy ramifications. We analyse the issue from two complementary perspectives: whether the impacts of corruption are limited to corruption in the public sector and whether a large public sector is associated with more corruption. First, we review theoretical and empirical perspectives on corruption, showing how concern over corruption in the private sector has a long history, dating back to Marshall and Coase. Second, we analyse corruption's determinants using a panel data approach. The econometric analysis demonstrates how our indicator of government involvement in the economy is a poor predictor of corruption prevalence. Finally, the paper highlights the policy implications of the one-sided focus on corruption in the public sector and proposes an explicit acknowledgment of the role of corruption in the private sector.
Global Environmental Politics, 2022
As the urgency of responding to climate change and the insufficiency of current demandside polici... more As the urgency of responding to climate change and the insufficiency of current demandside policies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions become clearer, supply-side initiatives are beginning to gain prominence and acceptance globally. Policies such as moratoria and compensation for leaving fossil fuels unextracted in exchange for financial compensation of rights owners are likely to be effective and complementary to existing policies. A number of unknowns remain regarding the operationalization of supply-side policies, such as how to establish a binding international agreement and how to raise and allocate financial compensation for nonextraction. Nevertheless, the need for supply-side policies only emphasizes the importance of imaginative and bold initiatives within the current conjuncture of global environmental politics.
International Development Planning Review
Since the early 2000s, there has been an 'extractive imperative' in Latin America that made inten... more Since the early 2000s, there has been an 'extractive imperative' in Latin America that made intensified extraction the policy solution to all socioeconomic challenges. More recently, a similar consensus has emerged in a diversity of political, economic and geographical contexts-such as Turkey, India and the United States-that makes it possible to speak of a 'global extractive imperative'. The imperative is especially evident in settings also characterised by authoritarian neoliberalism and the burden of resistance against extractivism is suffered overwhelmingly by marginalised communities at extractive frontiers. Emerging efforts to declare a share of existing reserves of fossil fuels 'unburnable' would not only help make progress towards tackling the climate crisis, it would also broaden the societal bases of societal struggles against capitalism's extractive excesses.
Global Environmental Politics
To limit the increase in global mean temperature to 1.5°C, CO2 emissions should be capped at 440 ... more To limit the increase in global mean temperature to 1.5°C, CO2 emissions should be capped at 440 gigatons. To achieve this, about 89 percent, 59 percent, and 58 percent of existing coal and conventional gas and oil reserves, respectively, need to remain unburned. This implies an economic cost for fossil fuel rights owners, and any successful climate policy will rely on resolving the distributional challenge of how to allocate the right to use the remaining burnable reserves. We discuss the possibility of compensating rights holders of unburnable oil and gas reserves, producing the first estimates of the financial resources needed to secure full compensation. We estimate that approximately US$ 5,400 billion (109) would be needed. Despite the vast amounts required, compensation is nevertheless economically feasible. We suggest a Keynesian “whatever it takes” approach for climate action, combining partial compensation for unburnable fuels and investment in low-carbon technologies to dr...
European Journal of Development Research, 2016
Sub-Saharan countries are facing multiple simultaneous challenges that include both the need to i... more Sub-Saharan countries are facing multiple simultaneous challenges that include both the need to increase access to electricity and to combat morbidity and mortality caused by malaria. This study is the first to explore the nexus between electrification and malaria incidence using a country-wide representative household level data. The focus is on rural Uganda. Despite the fact that data used in this analysis come from a multi topic survey and therefore do not include the ideal indicators for a malaria related study, we do find evidence that household members having access to electricity are more likely to experience malaria. Our interpretation is that electric light attracts malaria vectors and that lifestyle changes associated with outdoor lighting increase humans' exposure to the vectors. Our findings suggest that the electrification process in Uganda should be complemented by anti-malaria strategies.
World Development, 2015
ABSTRACT
Forum for Development Studies, 2013
Journal of International Economic Law
The Texaco/Chevron lawsuit, which started in November 1993 and is still being litigated in 2020, ... more The Texaco/Chevron lawsuit, which started in November 1993 and is still being litigated in 2020, is a prominent example of the process of judicialization of environmental conflict. The Ecuadorian plaintiffs claim that the oil company’s operations generated ruinous impacts on the environment and on the development prospects and health of nearby individuals and communities. The tortuous and lengthy judiciary process was further hindered by an arbitration process, an Investor–State Dispute Settlement mechanism nested in the Ecuador—United States Bilateral Investment Treaty. The significance of the case goes beyond the specifics of Ecuador and provides further arguments fuelling the protracted legitimacy crisis experienced by International Investment Agreements. The current praxis of Investor–State Dispute Settlement mechanisms is generating an asymmetrical system, protecting the interest of investors, and intruding into the space of human and environmental rights. These issues are reso...
Immiserizing Growth, 2019
Why do some residents of the Ecuadorian Amazon support the expansion of oil extraction in their c... more Why do some residents of the Ecuadorian Amazon support the expansion of oil extraction in their communities even when they believe that the impact of extractive industries on their communities and families has been negative, environmentally as well as economically? Building on nearly a decade of participatory research in the region, this chapter contextualizes this paradoxical choice within Ecuador’s encounter with oil extraction, which has not only failed to deliver the anticipated economic miracle but also resulted in a variety of immiserizing effects, be they economic, cultural, or ecological. Caught between the state whose functions are governed by an ‘extractive imperative’ and the oil sector whose presence is overwhelming, indigenous and peasant communities have not scored meaningful gains either by protesting against these dominant actors or by engaging with the much vaunted but ultimately ineffective concept of buen vivir (living well). The chapter argues that immiserization...
Energy Policy, 2021
To limit the probable increase in global mean temperature to 2 • C, about 80%, 50% and 30% of exi... more To limit the probable increase in global mean temperature to 2 • C, about 80%, 50% and 30% of existing coal, gas and oil reserves, respectively, would need to remain under the soil. While the concept of 'unburnable fuels' has become prominent, there has been little discussion on institutional mechanisms to identify specific fossil fuel reserves to be left untouched and the financial mechanisms for raising and distributing funds to compensate the right-holders for forgoing extraction. We present an auction mechanism to determine the fossil fuel reserves to be kept untappedthose whose extraction would generate the least rents, ensuring cost efficiency. The auctions could be complemented by other provisions to reap collateral benefits of avoided extraction, for example by prioritizing reserves that coincide with outstanding socio-environmental values that are likely to be disrupted by the extraction of fossil fuels. We also discuss how to raise funds, for example through a fossil fuel producers-based tax, to finance the mechanism compensating right-holders and ensuring commitment. The effective identification of unburnable fossil fuel reserves and the development of accompanying funding mechanisms seems to be the elephant in the room of climate negotiations and we aim at contributing to an overdue discussion on supply-side interventions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. 'Keep fossil fuels in the ground.'
The Yasuní Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (Yasuní ITT) initiative is a proposal to enact a permanen... more The Yasuní Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (Yasuní ITT) initiative is a proposal to enact a permanent ban on oil exploration and extraction activities within an Ecuadorian National Park and to obtain financial resources from the international community to compensate (partially) forgone oil revenues. The initiative brings into focus a classic dilemma between extraction by a state that needs economic resources versus the conservation of global public goods and the rights of indigenous people. Conventional ...
Geoforum, 2018
This article offers a reading of the ideas expressed in Walter Solón Romero Gonzales' mural, the ... more This article offers a reading of the ideas expressed in Walter Solón Romero Gonzales' mural, the 'History of Bolivian Petroleum' from 1956, and juxtaposes these ideas to the current public discourse that emerges from speeches of high officials and from policy documents of President Evo Morales' government. The objective is to investigate the understanding of the role natural resources vis-à-vis development in Bolivia at these two points in time and show the striking resonance between ideas depicted in the mural more than half a century ago and ideas expressed in contemporary official discourses. These ideas concern the foundational elements of a development model that envisions a central role for natural resources, and especially hydrocarbons, in the development of the country. The elements of this model, that include a prominent role of the state in the extraction of natural resources, expansive social policies, strategies to diversify the economy, neatly overlap with the central tenets of the neoextractivist model. It transpires that the novelty of neoextractivism can be fundamentally questioned. This model also provides the rationale justifying the promotion of extractive activities 'at all costs' in Bolivia and beyond. However, history has shown that it produces fantasies of development rather than actual development. Oil kindles extraordinary emotions and hopes, since oil is above all a great temptation. It is the temptation of ease, wealth, strength, fortune, power. It is a filthy, foul-smelling liquid that squirts obligingly up into the air and falls back to earth as a rustling shower of money. To discover and possess the source of oil is to feel as if, after wandering long underground, you have suddenly stumbled upon a royal treasure. Not only do you become rich, but you are also visited by the mystical conviction that some higher power has looked upon you with the eye of grace and magnanimously elevated you above others, electing you its favorite. […] [O]il is a fairy tale, and like every fairy tale, a bit of a lie.
Kyklos, 2004
authors are grateful to Jong-sung You and Henry de Groot for comments on an earlier draft. All re... more authors are grateful to Jong-sung You and Henry de Groot for comments on an earlier draft. All remaining errors are ours. The research has been funded by the Dutch National Science Foundation (NWO) under contract nr. 016.005.040.
European Environment, 2006
The paper discusses the prescription of EU environmental regulations for new member states. It ha... more The paper discusses the prescription of EU environmental regulations for new member states. It has been argued that these countries should be allowed looser directives as a way to take into consideration their lower income levels and correspondingly different priorities. The paper estimates the determinants of environmental policies' stringency. We find that corruption levels are the most important factor in explaining the variance in environmental policies in the enlarged EU. Most notably, differences in corruption levels across countries appear to be more important than income differences. Thus, it is argued, lower environmental standards in new member states are not necessarily implied by lower income levels, but they are more likely to reflect low institutional quality. We argue that harmonization of environmental policies at the EU level can be a way to tackle this problem, and we provide a further rationale for new members states to adjust to existing EU environmental directives.
Economics of Governance, 2007
We survey and assess the empirical literature on the sources of corruption Thanks to the improved... more We survey and assess the empirical literature on the sources of corruption Thanks to the improved availability of data, we are able to produce an improved crosscountry econometric model to test well-established and more recent hypotheses jointly. We do not find that the common law system, or a past as a British colony predicts corruption. Our results support cultural theories on the causes of corruption, and suggest that a medium-long exposure to uninterrupted democracy is associated with lower corruption levels, while political instability tends to raise corruption. Our results also suggest that the diffusion of newspapers helps to lower corruption levels.
The Extractive Industries and Society, 2014
Ecological Economics, 2021
Basilicata is a region of Southern Italy where the expansion of oil operations in the 1990s was p... more Basilicata is a region of Southern Italy where the expansion of oil operations in the 1990s was promoted as an opportunity to foster economic development. Flash-forward to 2020, Basilicata is one of the poorest regions in Italy despite the exploitation of some of the largest onshore hydrocarbon reserves within the European Union. The coincidence of high poverty rates with abundant natural resources suggests that the region is experiencing a ‘resource curse’; however, socio-economic problems predate the oil boom, complicating any causality claim. To disentangle and estimate the effects of oil exploitation, we employ the synthetic control method that compares the actual trends of development indicators of Basilicata with a counterfactual that is created by taking a weighted average of trends of other Italian regions –a ‘synthetic’ Basilicata. The analysis finds that the development of oil operations has generated no detectable improvement to employment, nor to a range of social indicators, nor to educational attainment. The absence of quantifiable beneficial effects is coupled with negative impacts on other dimensions of development that are more difficult to estimate with our method –especially on the environment and human health. Taken together the evidence offers a sobering prospect over the potential of resource-based development for disadvantaged regions in developed countries.
COVID-19 and International Development, Elissaios Papyrakis (ed)
International Development Planning Review, 2022
Since the early 2000s, there has been an 'extractive imperative' in Latin America that made inten... more Since the early 2000s, there has been an 'extractive imperative' in Latin America that made intensified extraction the policy solution to all socioeconomic challenges. More recently, a similar consensus has emerged in a diversity of political, economic and geographical contexts-such as Turkey, India and the United States-that makes it possible to speak of a 'global extractive imperative'. The imperative is especially evident in settings also characterised by authoritarian neoliberalism and the burden of resistance against extractivism is suffered overwhelmingly by marginalised communities at extractive frontiers. Emerging efforts to declare a share of existing reserves of fossil fuels 'unburnable' would not only help make progress towards tackling the climate crisis, it would also broaden the societal bases of societal struggles against capitalism's extractive excesses.
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Papers by Lorenzo Pellegrini
discourse of resource nationalism, which claims that colonial patterns of foreign exploitation are being broken and the benefits of extracting natural resources are accruing to the Bolivian population at large. At the same time, and similarly
related to anti-imperialist struggles, the country has been re-founded with a new constitution based on alternative development models, which acknowledges the plurinational character of the country, and endorses indigenous autonomy
(Tockman and Cameron 2014). However, the indigenous territories where autonomy should be exercised often coincide with the areas where the extractive frontier is expanding and intensifying. This overlap creates tensions between some
indigenous organizations and the very government that institutionalized their right to autonomy. These organizations – acting as resistance movements – are also using a discourse draped in natural resource nationalism, to defend their
autonomy and resist foreign-led exploitation of natural resources. This chapter investigates the tensions generated by the extractive process and the way these are legitimized by and resisted through nationalist discourses.
Pellegrini, L. (2016). Resource Nationalism in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, in Paul A. Haslam and Pablo Heidrich (eds.) The Political Economy of Resources and Development: From Neoliberalism to Resource Nationalism (Routledge, 2016)