Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun economics An increase in the value derived from the natural resources sector of the economy, leading to a rise in the valuation of the currency increasingly based on the natural resources sector, causes a deterioration in the manufacturing sector, by making the manufactured goods less competitive in the export marketplace compared to those manufactured by economies with lower valuation currencies, because they are relatively more expensive.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Coined by The Economist magazine in 1977, to describe the situation in the Netherlands where a natural resources find of a large natural gas field caused the Dutch gilder to rise in valuation, depressing exports and causing the manufacturing sector to decline, that occurred in the 1950s.

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  • The "Dutch disease" is a reference to an economic problem caused by the exploitation of rich natural resources not leading to national prosperity, as happened to the Dutch when off-shore drilling didn't result in national wealth, but was exploited to make the developers rich.

    August 18, 2009