Oil to Cash: Fighting the Resource Curse Through Cash Transfers

by Todd Moss, Caroline Lambert, Stephanie Majerowicz

What should a country do if it suddenly discovers oil and gas? How should it spend the subsequent cash windfall? How can it protect against corruption? How can citizens truly benefit from national wealth? With many of the world's poorest and most fragile states suddenly joining the ranks of oil and gas producers, these are pressing policy questions.

Oil to Cash explores one option that may help avoid the so-called resource just give the money directly to citizens. A universal, transparent, and regular cash transfer would not only provide a concrete benefit to regular people, but would also create powerful incentives for citizens to hold their government accountable. Oil to Cash details how and where this idea could work and how policymakers can learn from the experiences with cash transfers in places like Mexico, Mongolia, and Alaska.

Genres: Nonfiction

125 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Todd Moss, formerly the top American diplomat in West Africa, draws on his real-world experiences inside the U.S. Government to bring to life the exhilaration—and frustrations—of modern-day diplomacy. His first novel, THE GOLDEN HOUR (Putnam/Penguin), was originally inspired by the August 2008 coup d’état in Mauritania. Todd was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State at the time and was dispatched by Secretary Condoleezza Rice to negotiate with the junta leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

Just weeks after Todd completed the first draft of THE GOLDEN HOUR about an army takeover in Mali, the real President of that country was overthrown in a coup. Within days, the northern half of the country was overrun by Tuareg separatists and Islamist extremists, a threat to Africa and the world that was only ended by a French military invasion in early 2013.

The sequel, MINUTE ZERO (Putnam/Penguin), about an election in Zimbabwe that goes awry, was released Sept 2015.

Todd is also the author of several non-fiction books on African development and economics. He currently works as Senior Fellow and Chief Operating Officer at the Center for Global Development, a think-tank in Washington DC and lives in Maryland with his family. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and has taught at the London School of Economics (LSE) and at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He holds a PhD from SOAS and a BA from Tufts University.

Reviews

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great primer on how oil producing countries have managed revenue from their share of oil sales, with both good and bad examples. I heard Moss speak and was piqued by his thesis - oil to cash payments directly to qualifying citizens may help countries retain the social compact between government and the people and mitigate the resource curse.

[teohjitkhiam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The gist of the book argues that direct transfers of rents extracted from natural resources (oil or otherwise) & the government taxing such proceeds are far more effective at stemming corruption & institutionalizing participatory politics. Sovereign oil wealth funds or companies are highly effective in countries with highly-developed economies & governing structures e.g. Norway or the U.S. state of Alaska. Otherwise, such funds or companies will be subject to abuse by a ruling elite, fostering a rentier-based economy that are detached from the populace and beset by corruption, cronyism, & nepotism. The signposts of such economies include fuel subsidies that generally benefit the wealthy, vastly-inflated "white elephant" projects, income inequalities despite decades of resource wealth, weak or non-existent accountability & transparency regarding such revenues, & vastly-oversized civil service aimed at placating the populace at large.