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Kazakhstan, as a country with the oil-export-driven economy, has a danger of facing the oil curse. What policy should the government of Kazakhstan choose in order to prevent the oil curse? This study constructs major symptoms of the resource curse and puts them into analytical framework for an observation of their presence in the process of the oil sector development in Kazakhstan (throughout the period of 1991-2009). The analysis shows that Kazakhstan has an oil-dependent economy and is under the risk of the oil curse. Taking into account successful cases of beating the curse and current conditions of financial crisis, this study provides policy recommendations (pertaining fiscal, monetary and industrial policies, human capital and institutions) for facilitation of the oil curse symptoms.

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Bachelor of Finance, Master of Arts in Public Policy, Scholar of International Scholarship of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Scholar of the Open Society Foundation (Hungary). Interested in global energy, financial markets and policy making in Central Asian region.

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