Resource Depletion and Trade: Adding a Nonrenewable Resource to the Heckscher-Ohlin Model

This paper develops the intertemporal equilibrium of a small open economy with a nonrenewable resource intensive export and a labor intensive import. Optimal depletion implies the resource price rises at the rate of the capital return. Capital grows with investment and labor at a steady rate, raising the issue of whether depletion necessarily diminishes. Effects of a depletion tax, import tariff, and export subsidy are examined. Simulations with Cobb-Douglas production functions illustrate model properties. The paper also considers a constant depletion rate, tragedy of the commons, and myopic resource owner.