Political economy of natural resources: water scarcity in the High Plains region of the US

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:5289087

Jones, W M

This dissertation demonstrates the inadequacy of conventional neoclassical economic theories to explain natural resource depletion in a market economy. That theoretical perspective claims that the worry over depletion and scarcity of natural resources results from treating them as unique inputs in the production process. Accordingly, it finds that special controls designed to ration natural resources often lead to erroneous and unintended impacts. An alternative view presented in this dissertation provides a political economic explanation for natural resource scarcity. Importantly, natural resource scarcity and exhaustion result from specific historical developments which define the limits of economic activity. There are conditions unique to a particular nonrenewable resource that determines whether it will be exhausted. A political economic assessment of natural resource depletion utilizing a case study of the High Plains and the declining groundwater in the Ogallala Aquifer finds that exhaustion results from the conflicts and contradictions inherent in a market economy and the structural impediments preventing the state from instituting resource conservation policies.

• Research Organization: Columbia Univ., New York (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5289087
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
290400* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Energy Resources
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
FEDERAL REGION VIII
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
MARKET
NORTH AMERICA
POLITICAL ASPECTS
RESOURCE DEPLETION
RESOURCES
SHORTAGES
USA
WATER RESOURCES