Ebook: Dynamic Timing Decisions Under Uncertainty: Essays on Invention, Innovation and Exploration in Resource Economics

Jay Forrester's Economic Dynamics was published in 1971 and The Limits to Growth by Dennis Meadows and his associates appeared a year later. The publication of those two books gave rise to twenty years of intense research into the economics of exhaustible resources, research which everywhere has had a substantial impact both on public debate and on academic curricula. And now, just as that line of research is losing steam, economists are focussing on problems associated with the degradation of the natural environment, problems which call for models which, in their formal structure, are quite similar to those already developed in resource economics. This is therefore an appropriate moment for the appearance of a thorough exposition of the economics of exhaustible resources. For that is what Nguyen Manh Hung and Nguyen Van Quyen have provided. Their splendid new book covers equally well the older Hotelling-inspired theory of cake-eating and the economics of search and R&D designed to uncover new and cheaper sources of supply. It provides an entree to the whole subject of resource economics, as well as many new discoveries which will be of interest to experienced researchers.

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This book deals with dynamic timing decisions under uncertainty in the context of exhaustible resources. Adopting the dynamic programming techniqueof decomposing a large and complex problem into smaller and simpler ones, the book offers a unified treatment of the important subjects of exploration and technological innovation in the economics of exhaustible resources. These processes generate the dynamics of an economic system and might induce this system to switch from one dynamic regime to another. The question of how and when a policy maker should switchregimes is the main theme throughout the book. The approach offered can be used to study similar problems in industrial organization or dynamic macroeconomics.

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This book deals with dynamic timing decisions under uncertainty in the context of exhaustible resources. Adopting the dynamic programming techniqueof decomposing a large and complex problem into smaller and simpler ones, the book offers a unified treatment of the important subjects of exploration and technological innovation in the economics of exhaustible resources. These processes generate the dynamics of an economic system and might induce this system to switch from one dynamic regime to another. The question of how and when a policy maker should switchregimes is the main theme throughout the book. The approach offered can be used to study similar problems in industrial organization or dynamic macroeconomics.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-x
Introduction....Pages 1-6
Resource Economics Modelling and the Technique of Optimal Control....Pages 7-45
R & D Timing, Innovation and Resource Depletion Under Certainty....Pages 47-72
R & D Timing, Innovation and Resource Depletion Under Uncertainty....Pages 73-108
Theoretical Resource Exploration Over Space and Time....Pages 109-143
R & D Timing and Innovation: A Bilateral Resource Monopoly Dynamic Game....Pages 145-174
Conclusion....Pages 175-179
Back Matter....Pages 181-198

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This book deals with dynamic timing decisions under uncertainty in the context of exhaustible resources. Adopting the dynamic programming techniqueof decomposing a large and complex problem into smaller and simpler ones, the book offers a unified treatment of the important subjects of exploration and technological innovation in the economics of exhaustible resources. These processes generate the dynamics of an economic system and might induce this system to switch from one dynamic regime to another. The question of how and when a policy maker should switchregimes is the main theme throughout the book. The approach offered can be used to study similar problems in industrial organization or dynamic macroeconomics.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-x
Introduction....Pages 1-6
Resource Economics Modelling and the Technique of Optimal Control....Pages 7-45
R & D Timing, Innovation and Resource Depletion Under Certainty....Pages 47-72
R & D Timing, Innovation and Resource Depletion Under Uncertainty....Pages 73-108
Theoretical Resource Exploration Over Space and Time....Pages 109-143
R & D Timing and Innovation: A Bilateral Resource Monopoly Dynamic Game....Pages 145-174
Conclusion....Pages 175-179
Back Matter....Pages 181-198
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