Season 4 Episode 5: Tywin Lannister and Cersei Lannister discuss the Lannister’s depleted gold resource from the wars and the obstacles they face in paying back the Iron Bank of Braavos without being able to tap into this resource anymore. This relates to the problems many developing countries face called the resource curse or Dutch disease. The resource curse is the negative correlation associated with a countries mineral wealth and their economic growth: a country endowed with more natural resources tends to have lower growth rates.
