A government bargains a mutually convenient agreement with a multinational corporation to extract a natural resource. The corporation bears the initial investment and earns as a return a share on the profits. The host country provides access and guarantee conditions of operation. Being the...

The clock is ticking and time is running short for us to have a realistic chance to get climate change under control and prevent it becoming irreversible and selfsustaining. Phasing out coal is widely seen as a 'low hanging fruit' of climate policy commitments in the move towards a net zero...

This working paper explores the role of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in contributing to environmental justice as envisaged by the concept of a new eco-social contract. CBNRM actively involves local communities in sustainable resource management, aligning with the...

We develop a methodology to estimate the cost of capital using credit registry microdata, and apply it to study capital allocation efficiency in the United States. Our measure incorporates the contractual interest rate, expected default probability, recovery rate, and expectations of future...

This paper develops a novel axiomatic analysis of exploitation as the unequal exchange of labour, derives an empirical exploitation index at the individual level, and provides the first estimation of the distribution of exploitation in the US in 1975-2022. We show that, among possible...

Critical technologies including artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum computing are attracting attention because of their indispensable nature and their role in national security strategies. We compare China, the United States and the European Union in these technologies and their...