Wigley, S.2018-04-122018-04-1220170277-9536http://hdl.handle.net/11693/37326There is now an extensive literature on the adverse effect of petroleum wealth on the political, economic and social well-being of a country. In this study we examine whether the so-called resource curse extends to the health of children, as measured by under-five mortality. We argue that the type of revenue available to governments in petroleum-rich countries reduces their incentive to improve child health. Whereas the type of revenue available to governments in petroleum-poor countries encourages policies designed to improve child health. In order to test that line of argument we employ a panel of 167 countries (all countries with populations above 250,000) for the years 1961–2011. We find robust evidence that petroleum-poor countries outperform petroleum-rich countries when it comes to reducing under-five mortality. This suggests that governments in oil abundant countries often fail to effectively use the resource windfall at their disposal to improve child health.EnglishCountry fixed-effectsHuman capitalPanel dataResource curseUnder-five mortalityChild healthChild mortalityEnergy useHealth policyHuman capitalPanel dataSocioeconomic impactTwentieth centuryTwenty first centuryAcquired immune deficiency syndromeCountry economic statusEconomic developmentHealth care costHealth care financingHealth care planningHumanHuman immunodeficiency virus infectionPetrochemical industryResource allocationTaxChildDeveloping countryEconomicsIncomePoliticsPreschool childStatistics and numerical dataTrendsUtilizationPetroleumPreschoolDeveloping countriesHealth resourcesPetroleumArticle10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.038