We establish a general preference for price uncertainty by the price taking, risk neutral, nonrenewable resource extracting firm with orthodox convex extraction costs. Option prices for delivery of a ton at a particular date in the future exceed the expected dollar return from the purchase of...

We analyze the formation of a hierarchy of groups such as herds, members of a "rung" in a tennis ladder, students at a particular quality of college, or club members sharing a local public good. An individual is interested in maximizing her individual payoff which depends on a variable...

We amend the static model of industry structure in Dasgupta and Stiglitz to include external benefits from a firm's R&D. Now "the market" under invests in R&D relative to the social optimum. The work of Mansfield suggests such external benefits are pervasive.

In each period, we have an R&D race among N competitive R&D firms, each with probability π of discovering a successful new technique for producing an intermediate good used in producing the economy's final consumption good. The winner of a race earns a monopoly profit over a generally uncertain...

We draw on Ricardian comparative advantage between distinct persons to map out the division of labor among proto-humans in a village some 1.7 million years ago. A person specialized in maintaining a cooking fire in the village is of particular interest (Ofek [2001]). We are also interested in...

In an aggregate model where the single output is produced from the services of reproducible capital, the flows of minerals extracted from a resource stock of finite dimension, and labour, it is shown that among efficient paths, the one with current savings-investment equal to current rents from...

Accumulated savings generates capacity with increasing returns to scale in a one commodity model of optimal growth with circulating capital or capacity. Output is proportional to available capacity. Increasing returns makes a spacing of times for investment optimal in a growing economy. We...

We establish convexity of a nonrenewable resource extracting agent's value function in the future interest rate, a random variable. A preference by the agent for future interest uncertainty follows. A rational expectations, m identical firm industry equilibrium is characterized and the links...