What have we learned about productivity in the past two decades? In this article, Andrew Sharpe from the Centre for the Study of Living Standards reviews a recently published NBER volume entitled New Development in Productivity Analysis, edited by Charles R. Hulten, Edwin R. Dean, and Michael J....

Some scholars have argued that direct distribution of natural resource revenues to the population would help resource-rich countries escape the “resource curse.†This discussion note analyzes whether this proposal is a viable policy alternative for resource-rich countries. The first...

Two oil price shocks changed the pattern of cheap oil. The first was the Arab embargo on oil exports in 1973. Oil prices rose five fold. In 1978, the second was the fall of Shah Iran. Prices soared to $80–$100 a barrel in today’s prices. In 1960, OPEC was established and since then it has...

We adapt the concept of a conservation easement to a marine environment and explore its use to achieve conservation goals. Although marine environments generally are not owned, those who use them for commercial fishing often are regulated. These regulations grant harvesters rights to use marine...

Forests support rural livelihoods and food security in many developing countries by providing critical sources of food, medicine, shelter, building materials, fuels, and cash income. The increasing demand for forest products has enhanced rural livelihoods and enabled the expansion of domestic...

The issue of deriving benefits from the fishery resource on a sustainable basis exists in most developing countries. This tends to create a major problem confronting both biologists and economists in managing the fishery. In respose to this issue, this paper explains one possible method to...

Many of the main scientific challenges in the fields of development, environment, and resource economics have a microeconomic foundation wherein behavioral elements play a significant role. Preferences with respect to risk, time, societal others, and the environment shape the decision-making...

We summarize and review the literature on two types of economic experiments. First, we explore the consequences for environmental policies of the vast body of literature refuting the assumption that humans are concerned only with their own private welfare. We review the literature addressing...

Recently, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) published “State of World Population 2002” which holds a Malthusian view on demography: population growth harms economic development. Based on that assumption, the UNFPA directs funds to reduce the fertility of Third World women. The...

I consider a non-renewable resource market where extraction costs are non-convex and market price is subject to stochastic shocks. While competitive equilibrium cannot exist if costs are non-convex and demand is deterministic, equilibrium can be supported in the context of stochastic demand. The...