ABSTRACT
Resource-based models of population and environment have been spatially and locationally misspecified. This chapter utilizes examples from the oil, coal, iron, copper, aluminum, manganese, cobalt, and gold markets, with additional reference to nonmineral markets for comparison. Secure access to an expanding supply of raw materials is critical to economic growth and stability under industrial capitalism. Where the extractive commodity makes up a large share of both GDP and exports, the influx of foreign revenue into the country can also severely disrupt sectoral balance, leading to the so-called dutch disease. Extractive entrepreneurs who attempt to reduce their capital exposure by employing large masses of low-paid labor usually complain about labor scarcity and appeal to the state to assist them in overcoming the reluctance of “immobile” labor. Finally, competition between national economies for ascendance in the world system enhances the effects of increasing volume of extraction and scale of operations.
