Economic Theories Of Exhaustible Resources

Originally published in 1989. Professor Robinson begins by examining natural resource classification and the nature of return in mining, giving particular emphasis to different sources of long-run price changes in mining and their relevance for user cost and the economic treatment for exhaustible resources. He then traces the development of the economic theory of exhaustible resources from the last quarter of the eighteenth century to the first quarter of the twentieth, documenting the differing views of various authors about the future availability of mineral resources and the extent of user cost involved in their exploitation. He identifies a link between the perceived availability of exhaustible resources and the nature of the economic theory used to explain their exploitation. This book should be of interest to students and researchers of Economic Theory and Policy.

A book on the economics of exhaustible resources requires no justification. A long book does. The purist will find disquieting our two-asset, constant population model with which we analyse growth possibilities in an economy with exhaustible resources.

A presentation of the economic principles relating to the use and management of natural resources, including analysis of optimal use policies.

This study is concerned with the economic theory of exhaustible resources. My interest in exhaustible resources dates back several years when prof. dr. J. Cramer and prof. dr. C. von Weizsacker stimu lated me to direct my research, at the Faculty of Actuarial Science and Econometrics of the University of Amsterdam, to the exploitation of Dutch natural gas. This issue raised many theoretical problems, in which I got gradually more and more involved. I was lucky to find in prof. dr. H. Weddepohl a person prepared to listen patiently and to read and critisize my numerous attempts to solve these problems. The actual work on the present monograph started in 1982 at the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Eindhoven University of Technology, in the context of the program "Equilibrium and Dis equilibrium" of the "voorwaardelijke financiering" (universitary financing system). I wish to thank here my supervisors prof. dr. P. Ruys and prof. dr. H. Weddepohl for their comments on earlier drafts of this monograph. When looking back, I realize that their remarks and our dis cussions have led to notable improvements. Also the Internation~l Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Laxenburg, Austria) has made a valuable contribution by offering me the opportunity to spend three months in its serene academic environment in the summer of 1983. Thanks also to the energy group of I. I. A. S. A. and the I. I. A. S. A. foundation Netherlands.

These 27 articles on the economics of exhaustible resources date from 1931 to 1991.

Originally published in 1979. For decades conservationists have argued that increasing population will eventually out-strip the limited natural resources of the earth. Economists have responded by saying that any resource scarcity will be forestalled by changes in tastes and technology, induced by the appropriate price signals. This study is an attempt to develop a theoretical framework for analysing some of the issues related to this debate. Using an optimal growth theory framework, the author analyses the problem of optimally allocating a finite stock of the resource over time. In the process the author points out the crucial parameters and value judgments relevant to the various issues. This title will be of interest to students of environmental economics.