CAMBRIDGE—It would appear reasonable to expect that countries with huge natural-resource wealth (oil, natural gas, minerals, and even agriculture) would have a leg up on less-endowed countries. Yet resource-rich countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America have often failed to achieve the prosperity that some resource-poor islands and peninsulas in East Asia have. Now, some believe that this “resource curse” might be claiming a new and unlikely victim: the United States.

© Project Syndicate