It has been a month since Damien King, economist and public commentator, declared his hope that Jamaica doesn't find oil, and that if it does, that the oil is left where it is. Oil exploration is taking place in the sea off the island’s southern coast.

Dr King’s fear is that if Jamaica comes into oil wealth, the island will soon be consumed by the so-called resource curse, an inevitability he predicts for Guyana, one of Jamaica’s Caribbean Community (CARICOM) partners, and among the world’s fastest-growing producers of oil.

This newspaper appreciates Dr King’s concern, even if we suspect that his declarations were deliberately infused with attention-grabbing hyperbole:   an effort perhaps to highlight the real risks often faced by countries that achieve sudden wealth from natural resources. And especially countries with weak and divisive political cultures and poor systems of accountability.