Escaping the Resource Curse, Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey D. Sachs and Joseph E. Stiglitz, eds., Foreword by George Soros; New York: Columbia University Press, 2007, pp. xviii, 408.

Escaping the Resource Curse provides economic and political analysis of resource curse theories as well as practical policy advice to governments on managing oil and gas developments. Twelve chapters by natural resource specialists from multiple disciplines discuss a broad range of oil and gas development issues in three sections, “Dealing with Oil Corporations,” “Managing the Macroeconomy,” and “Handling the Politics.” Beyond the specific policy advice elaborated in detail throughout (relating primarily to transparency), the book succeeds in its accessible analysis of resource curse theories and state-industry tensions as well as its reinterpretation of oil wealth.