Iraq: Private ownership of oil and the quest for democracy

Razzak, Weshah (2006): Iraq: Private ownership of oil and the quest for democracy.

Abstract

I argue that state-ownership and state-management of oil on behalf of the Iraqi people is not conducive to democracy and inconsistent with the principles of free market. I also argue that it can adversely affect economic development and might further impoverish the average Iraqi citizen. To resolve the problems, this note proposes a change to the “political” rules; i.e., change the Iraqi constitution, and provides an economic strategy to transfer oil wealth to the Iraqi people.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Oil; private ownership; development
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q4 - Energy > Q43 - Energy and the Macroeconomy; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q3 - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation > Q32 - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P14 - Property Rights; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q4 - Energy > Q48 - Government Policy

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