Economic analysis of the conservation of depletable natural resources. Final report

Technical Report · Tue Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6890579· OSTI ID:6890579

This is the final report from a study of the intertemporal allocation of natural resources arising in a market economy and, in particular, development of parameterizations by which bias in the intertemporal allocation may be estimated. The first interim report surveyed existing work in this area and noted the directions in which research seemed particularly needed. Work on two of these areas, the effects of imperfect competition and of the tax system, was begun in the first interim report and continued through the second. In addition, work on the consequences of imperfect risk markets was begun in the second interim report and continued in the present report. A second new area investigated in the second report was that of technical change, an assessment of market inducements for technical change and its consequences under different institutional arrangements. The second report also began the third phase of the study, the analysis of alternative policies, with an examination in detail of the Btu tax. This report includes analysis of the effects of imperfect risk markets and two studies that deal with issues of trade policy. One study analyzes the optimal trade policy of a large consuming nation facing competitive resource suppliers. The other examines trade policies under the threat of embargoes by resource cartels, one of the important motivations for Project Independence. A concept of flexibility is introduced and the optimum degree of flexibility is analyzed when the supply of a natural resource is affected by the probability of a large price rise from an embargo. Finally, the nature of policies which should be introduced in the face of the threat of an embargo are discussed.

• Research Organization: Microeconomic Associates, Berkeley, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6890579
• Report Number(s): HCP/M8429-01
• 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
291000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Conservation
ALLOCATIONS
CARTELS
COMPETITION
CONTROL
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMIC POLICY
ECONOMICS
EFFICIENCY
EMBARGOES
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY POLICY
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
MARKET
MATERIALS
MINERALS
MONOPOLIES
NUCLEAR FUELS
PROJECT INDEPENDENCE
REACTOR MATERIALS
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
RESOURCE DEPLETION
RESOURCES
RISK ASSESSMENT
TAXES
TRADE