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...

The paper develops a theoretical model with different channels through which energy affects economic growth. The conditions for a crowding out of capital accumulation by intensive energy use are derived. In the empirical part, estimations using a system with five simultaneous equations for a...

Brock and Taylor (2010) argue that the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) - a hump shaped relationship between emissions and income per capita - is driven by falling GDP growth rates associated with Solow type convergence. I test the importance of their mechanism as a driver of emissions by...

The paper considers an economy which is constrained by natural resource use and driven by knowledge accumulation. Resources are essential inputs in all the sectors. It is shown that population growth and poor input substitution are not detrimental but, on the contrary, even necessary for...

In this paper, we explore the use of trade policy in addressing transboundary stock pollution problems such as acid rain and water pollution. We show that a tariff determined by the current level of accumulated pollution can induce the time path of emissions optimal for the downstream (polluted)...

Natural resource abundance is a blessing for some countries, but a curse for othes. We show that differences across countries in the degree of fiscal decentralisation can contribute to this divergent outcome. First, the paper presents a unified theory that combines political and market...

This paper studies how monetary policy should optimally respond to an oil discovery.Oil discoveries provide news that the natural level of output will increase in the future. Anticipated increases in natural output lower the natural real interest rate. Optimal monetary policy must accommodate...

Surprisingly little is known about the impact of resource booms on income inequality in resource rich countries (Ross, 2007). This paper develops a simple theory, in the context of a two sector growth model in which learning-by-doing drives growth, to explain the time path of inequaility...

This paper provides an analytic review of the upstream aspects of the exploitation of natural resources: the assignment of ownership rights, taxation, the discovery process, extraction, renewability, and clean-up. It sets these issues within the principal-agent framework. It proposes that the...

Whereas empirical evidence on the effect of higher commodity prices onthe long-run growth of commodity exporters is ambiguous, time series analyses using vector autoregressive (VAR) models have found that commodity booms raise income in the short run. In this paper we adopt panel error...