Since I cannot post my own videos.... here is a nice one on resource curse

Fertilizer blues....

Remember we read the paper on the returns to fertilizer? Turns out that in the Bereba village are (where I have my house) an organization tried last year to promote fertilizer use for maize. They gave farmers loans of fertilizer to apply to their maize fields. The fertilizer was applied, but it turned out that last year was very rainy and maize was a bumper crop for the country and the price fell, so it ended up not profitable. Farmers started defaulting on the loans, and the fertilizer project collapsed. Wow.... just like we discussed in class!