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Mark C. Thurber
Associate Director for ResearchView Mark Thurber's bio, list of research, recent publications and events »
December 13th, 2010
Nolan and Thurber identify risk as a major driver of whether countries use private or state-owned oil companies
FSI Stanford, PESD NewsIn a new working paper, PESD affiliate Peter A. Nolan and associate director Mark Thurber find that considerations of risk help explain why oil-rich states may choose international oil companies rather than state-controlled enterprises to find and extract oil in "frontier" territories. 
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November 29th, 2010
Global Underdevelopment Action Fund awards six grants to projects addressing global underdevelopment
FSI Stanford NewsThe Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University has awarded six Global Underdevelopment Action Fund grants for interdisciplinary research aimed at tackling persistent problems of global underdevelopment. The projects will focus on early-stage, multidisciplinary, and policy-relevant research, and are all required to have a training component for Stanford undergraduate or graduate students. Read more »
September 10th, 2010
PESD releases study of Nigeria's national oil company NNPC
FSI Stanford, PESD AnnouncementNigeria's national oil company NNPC is at the center of a profoundly dysfunctional oil sector in a country that some argue embodies the "resource curse." In a new study, PESD Associate Director Mark Thurber and PESD affiliated researchers Ify Emelife and Patrick Heller find that NNPC's persistent underperformance stems from its role as the linchpin of a sophisticated and durable system of patronage. Read more »
June 29th, 2010
Thurber quoted in Nature on climate change mitigation potential of natural gas
FSI Stanford, PESD in the news: Nature News on June 26, 2010Commenting in Nature magazine, PESD Associate Director Mark Thurber emphasized the key role for natural gas in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, both in the US and in key emerging markets like China.
May 24th, 2010
PESD releases study of Norway's national oil company Statoil
FSI Stanford, PESD NewsNorway is lauded as the rare example of a major oil and gas exporting country that has managed to avoid the "resource curse." A new study by PESD Associate Director Mark Thurber and Consulting Research Associate Benedicte Tangen Istad looks more closely at the Norwegian petroleum experience and the role of national oil company Statoil in it. The reality is messy and political but nonetheless an impressive story of how Norway built a vibrant domestic oil and gas industry on the back of national champion Statoil and a robust system of governance that could curb Statoil's excesses as needed at a few key junctures.