Mineral resources and growth nexus in ASEAN countries: What role do trade diversification, ICT, and financial inclusion play in the resource curse spectrum?

The natural resource curse hypothesis is widely acknowledged in the empirical literature; however, its indirect influence, augmented with trade diversification, information and technology, and financial inclusion on the economic development of ASEAN countries, is unexplored. Thus, the present study analyses the existence of the resource curse considering the moderating role of these factors from 2000 to 2022. In doing so, the CrossSectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lags (CS-ARDL) model is employed after the preliminary examination of the data properties. The outcomes revealed that mineral resources tend to decrease economic growth; hence, the resource curse hypothesis is validated for the sample countries. Similarly, trade diversification, information and technology and financial inclusion accelerate economic growth in the long and short run. Manifestly, the negative impact of mineral resources is neutralized by higher trade diversification, financial inclusion, and information and technology indicated. Two-way causality exists between growth and all model variables. The alternative estimator also confirms these estimates. The study outcomes provide an investment avenue for ASEAN members to enhance their economic growth augmented with productive utilization of resources.