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So what exactly is the resource curse? In the 1950s, Argentinean economist Raul Prebisch argued that commodities were subject to a long-term secular decline in their terms of trade relative to manufactures. Post-colonial resource producers would be consigned to be the “hewers of wood and drawers of water” for the rich industrialized countries. Whether this hypothesis is correct is an empirical matter, and a quick glance at the gas pump, much less advanced statistical analysis, suggests that it probably is not.  Another possibility is that it is not the secular trend in prices that counts, it is the instability of export revenues that is the culprit, discouraging saving and investment, complicating macroeconomic policy management and generally encouraging a...