This paper contributes to the resource curse and regional development literature by proposing a labour-market framework that contrasts positive spillover effects with crowding-out mechanisms and by examining how these processes shape employment and income trajectories across Australian regions. Using panel data for 566 local government areas between 2011 and 2021, combined with information on the location and status of mines across the country, we investigate the relationship between mining activity and regional development outcomes. Descriptive evidence indicates that, despite national growth in mining employment, many mining-hosting regions experienced declines in the number of resident miners, suggesting a growing spatial decoupling between mining production and local labour-market benefits. To evaluate the proposed framework, we estimate reduced-form growth models linking changes in mining employment to changes in non-mining employment and family income. Results indicate modest but positive average effects, suggesting that positive spillover mechanisms generally dominate, although crowding-out effects are more prevalent in some regions. Together, the conceptual framework and empirical findings help explain how labour-market dynamics shape subnational resource curse processes and underscore the need for place-based, evidence-informed development strategies.
Fleming-Muñoz et al. (Mon,) studied this question.