The special issue is co-edited by: Rabah Arezki (CNRS, CERDI & FERDI), Rick van der Ploeg (University of Oxford) and Christopher Adam (University of Oxford).
Applications should be sent to the following email address:
a-anne.de_ubeda@ferdi.fr
Application deadline: September 29, 2025
The world’s economic super-powers are in a race to control (what they deem to be) critical minerals, many of which are found in developing economies. This race has implications for geopolitics, both between the superpowers themselves and also for the mineral-rich economies of the global south. The implications for economic development and economic policy choices in the mineral-rich economies are potentially powerful. The externalities stemming from the scramble for critical minerals are broad ranging from the risk of conflict, environmental damage and exacerbation of poverty.
In this special issue, leading authors explore these multifaceted consequences of what could well constitute “the scramble for critical minerals” and offer policy responses for developing countries to navigate the phenomenon.
The Oxford Review of Economic Policy is planning a Special Issue on “The Scramble for Critical Minerals”. Papers are invited for this issue with potential topics:
↪ Papers should be analytically rigorous but also punchy and policy oriented. Papers should be 4,000 – 6,500 words.
Invited papers will be presented at a conference hosted by FERDI in Clermont-Ferrand, France, on 26-27 November 2025 (with some participation via Zoom). To be considered for the conference, extended abstracts or draft papers must be submitted by September 29, 2025 to the following email address: a-anne.de_ubeda@ferdi.fr.
For papers selected for publication, discussant comments and referee reports will be shared with authors by late November with revised drafts due by end-December 2025 in time for publication in the first quarter of 2026.
Travel expenses in economy class will be covered for presenters and discussants as well as up to three nights of accommodation.
