Natural resources and persistent rural poverty: In search of the nexus

A general framework relating rural poverty to natural resource extraction and production is proposed. Five natural resource use regimes, differentiated by the relationship of the national economy to local natural resources, are identified: subsistence resource use, commercially exploited open access resources, small holdings, industrial ownership of resources, and public ownership of resources. These use regimes variously affect the royalty/ground rent, employment, and social integration benefits that local residents realize from nearby natural resources. The local opportunity structures thus created differentially attract and hold the poor and the nonpoor. Uneven spatial distribution of income positions due to the occupational and ownership income structures of natural resource industries along with the attractiveness to the poor of subsistence and quasi‐subsistence resources are suggested as the primary mechanisms linking natural resources to rural poverty.