Impact of natural resource rents on human development: What is the role of globalization in Asia Pacific countries?

Natural resource rent is counted as national wealth, and utilization of this wealth depends on the developmental objective of the nation. Globalization is believed to play a significant role in shaping this association between natural resource rents and human development in Asia Pacific countries. This study assesses this association for 30 Asia Pacific countries over the period of 1996–2016 and using human development index (HDI) as the measure of human development. Using second generation panel models and bootstrapped quantile regression, we found that on one hand the individual natural resources rents has positive impact on HDI, and on the other hand the rent received from the pool of natural resources has negative impact on HDI. In presence of globalization, the impacts of natural resource rents are reversed, and the presence of governance and strong institutions believed to be the reasons behind this impact. Based on these results, we have provided policy implications for attaining sustainable development in these nations.