|
EconStor >
ifo Institut – Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung an der Universität München >
CESifo Working Papers, CESifo Group Munich >
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/10419/49491
|
| | |
| Title: | | Optimal emission-extraction policy in a world of scarcity and irreversibility  |
| Authors: | | Prieur, Fabien Tidball, Mabel Withagen, Cees A. |
| Issue Date: | | 2011 |
| Series/Report no.: | | CESifo working paper: Industrial Organisation 3512 |
| Abstract: | | This paper extends the classical exhaustible-resource/stock-pollution model with the irreversibility of pollution decay. Within this framework, we answer the question how the potential irreversibility of pollution affects the extraction path. We investigate the conditions under which the economy will optimally adopt a reversible policy, and when it is optimal to enter the irreversible region. In the case of irreversibility it may be optimal to leave a positive amount of resource in the ground forever. As far the optimal extraction/emission policy is concerned, several types of solutions may arise, including solutions where the economy stays at the threshold for a while. Given that different programs may satisfy the first order conditions for optimality, we further investigate when each of these is optimal. The analysis is illustrated by means of a numerical example. To sum up, for any pollution level, we can identify a critical resource stock such that there exist multiple optima i.e. a reversible and an irreversible policy that yield exactly the same present value. For any resource stock below this critical value, the optimal policy is reversible whereas with large enough resource, irreversible policies outperform reversible programs. Finally, the comparison between irreversible policies reveals that it is never optimal for the economy to stay at the threshold for a while before entering the irreversible region. |
| Subjects: | | non-renewable resource irreversible pollution optimal policy |
| JEL: | | Q30 Q53 C61 |
| Document Type: | | Working Paper |
| Appears in Collections: | | CESifo Working Papers, CESifo Group Munich
|
| |
| | |
Download bibliographical data as:
BibTeX
|
| |
Share on:http://hdl.handle.net/10419/49491
|
Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
|