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Economic growth and decline with exhaustible resources

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Summary

The paper extends neoclassical growth theory to exhaustible resources. Output is assumed to depend on labor, capital, the stock of available resources, and the rate of resource depletion. Population change and capital accumulation in turn depend on per capita output. The various types of paths — balanced or unbalanced, monotonic or oscillatory, of growth or of decline — which may result from such a system are examined. Special attention is given to steady states in the sense that capital and resourcesper capita remain constant. The influence of resource-saving technical progress is also examined.

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Authors
  1. Jürg Niehans
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Additional information

Abram G. Hutzler, Professor of Political Economy, The Johns Hopkins University.

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Niehans, J. Economic growth and decline with exhaustible resources. De Economist 123, 1–22 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02115560

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02115560

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