Here's a solid explanation of the Resource Curse and one suggestion for fixing it:
Oil to Cash: Fighting the Resource Curse through Cash Transfers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8f7MSOLMRk
Has Dubai, a city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) managed to escape the resource curse?
Using oil money to start a world-class airline
Dubai managed to use its oil wealth to start a major airline, Emirates, which now ranks among the world's best and largest airlines. They took advantage of Dubai's relative location at the middle of the peopled world, between eastern and western worlds. Dubai now serves a hub for direct international flights all over the globe.
For example, on my flight back from Kenya, I was heading to Dubai to get an Emirates flight direct Dubai to DC, but the guy sitting next to me was headed for an Emirates flight Dubai to Perth, Australia on the other side of the globe. In Dubai Airport there are literally people from all over the world, it's hard to imagine a more international airport.
Creating a new tourist destination from scratch in the desert
In fact, Dubai has totally transformed itself from an oil-only economy so that now its top 2 industries are airlines and tourism with oil & gas being only 5% of Dubai's economy today.
In Dubai over 80% of the buildings were built in the last 10 years. These include the world's highest density of 5-star hotels. Because Dubai is always warm, it is a year-round beach resort and has a slew of water parks. In fact, Dubai is so hot some pools artificially cool the water rather than warm it. It is also very safe.
This is the country with indoor skiing in a mall, the famous artificial Palm Islands, and the world's tallest building, and the Burj-Al-Arab floating hotel.
The price of development
But there is a flip side to Dubai's development. In Dubai foreign expatriates make up 85% of the population, people from all over the world but especially from Islamic countries like India, Pakistan, and Malaysia. They do construction, man the hotels, malls and food courts, drive the taxis, etc. So traces of native culture on the street are few and far between. Meanwhile, may of Dubai's major corporations have European and Ango-world executives. Emirates airlines, for example, lists among its Senior Management Team execs from Britain, France, and New Zealand.
There is also lot (an understatement) of extravagant waste and spending in Dubai, too. In a 5 hour layover, I saw a Ferrari, 2 Lamborghinis, and a Maserati, more luxury cars than I've seen in the past 5 years in DC. Dubai has countless high-end luxury shops as well and they are not just for visitors. So there are traces of the resource curse and plenty of wasted money by elites...
Environmental sustainability
Dubai suffers from many of the same sustainability issues affecting American suburbia. Like suburban sprawl, Dubai is unwalkable. Sure there are artificial waterfront walkways downtown, but Dubai on the whole is a place where you have to drive everywhere, buildings are extremely spread out--which ties the whole economy back to oil. It's a city of skyscrapers and malls with lots of space between them. Taxi drivers must make a killing in Dubai. Of course UAE has no shortage of oil--a gallon goes for around $2--but sooner or later the oil will run out.
In addition, Dubai's desert location poses many problems. It has to desalinize huge amounts of water from the ocean, which is very costly. Moreover, the hundreds of skyscrapers in Dubai are built on sand, not the ideal foundation.
My friend Matt Ferraton now teaches in Turkmenistan just finished a blog entry about his 6 days in Dubai.
Six days in Dubai
http://burnuptheroad.blogspot.com/2014/03/six-days-in-dubai.html
See
Can Dubai ever be sustainable?
by Leon Kaye, The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/dubai-sustainability-inspiration-city
For longer description of Dubai's issues see
Green Metropolis book by David Owen, NY Times writer
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