This paper describes the structure of the world gold market, its sources of supply and demand, and how it functions. The market has three principal functions in three major locations: the New York futures market speculates on spot prices, which are largely determined in London, whereas physical...

To assess the feasibility of the national accounts treating as assets depletable resources extracted for sale, the paper examines three issues: 1. whether treating natural resources as assets when they are used requires symmetrical accounting when they enter economic reserves; 2. at what stage...

This paper provides an overview of diamond mining in sub-Saharan African countries, and explores the reasons for substantial differences in their tax rates and fiscal revenues from the sector, which mainly arise from differences in the incentives for smuggling. In a theoretical model, we show...

We present the results of implementing a real options model for valuing an investment project that expands production capacity and/or modifies unit costs of a copper mine. The model and its implementation addresses the three requirements we find necessary to increase the use of the real option...

The last decade has witnessed an emerging literature that applies option pricing methods to evaluate claims on real assets. Previous research has applied option pricing to the optimal investment timing decision for the firm. This paper applies a binomial lattice approach to the valuation of a...

The oil and gas sector is among principal sectors of the Russian economy and is the driving force in shaping the state budget revenues and the trade balance. In 2016, Russia's crude oil production hit an all-time peak since 1990, and crude oil exports were close to an all-time high. Under the...

This article provides a review of the academic literature on the financial economics of silver, platinum and palladium. The survey covers the findings on a wide variety of topics relation to the White Precious Metals including Market Efficiency, Forecastability, Behavioral Findings,...

Using aggregate data from national accounts, we study whether strengthening and harmonizing securities regulation across the European Union increases household equity ownership. We find a significant increase in the proportion of liquid assets invested in equity, both when a household's own...

In September 2014, Tom Montgomery (SVP of Strategic Initiatives at the De Beers Group) and his team launched a pilot program in the United States to explore the $1 billion market for pre-owned (recycled) diamonds. According to Montgomery, the motivation for the pilot program was to improve the...

We estimate the impact of local mining activity on the business constraints experienced by 25,777 firms across nine large and resource-rich countries. We find that the presence of active mines in firms' immediate vicinity (20 km) deteriorates the business environment in tradeable sectors. Access...