Comparing resources booms : Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Nigeria

During the early 1970s to the early 1980s, high price levels prevailed for several minerals and primary commodities bringing price instability and sectoral transformation to the economies of Some primary commodity-exporting countries. Like Papua New Guinea (PNG), many other agricultural-based small open economies experienced large fluctuations in their external trade as well as in their internal economic environment. Indonesia and Nigeria are two other agricultural based primary-commodity exporting countries which experienced large transfers of wealth as a result of two major oil booms during 1973-74 and 1979-81. PNG experienced major booms in the same period-a construction and mineral boom in 1971-74, and an agricultural commodity boom in 1976-77, followed by another mineral boom in 1978-79. This chapter examines whether the divergent economic performance of these countries was the result of unequal magnitude of the resources booms, or the different policy measures adopted and implemented by the respective governments