The Permian Basin’s combination of massive capital investments, world-scale oil and gas production, and strong, adaptable local institutions with historical experience managing boom-bust cycles creates a unique subnational resource curse case study. This is the first analysis focused specifically on whether subnational resource curse dynamics seen in other oil-rich locales (1) apply to the Permian Basin, (2) if they apply, to what extent, and (3) compensatory policy steps, including emergence of public-private infrastructure partnerships and community engagement at a scale generally not seen in other hydrocarbon provinces.