We develop the rectangular choice-of-technology model with factor constraints, or RCOT, a linear programming input-output model for analysis of the economy of a single region. It allows for one or more sectors to operate more than one technology simultaneously, with the relatively lowest-cost...

In spite of the increasing scientific certainty that the earth's climate is warming and that human activity is partially responsible, public willingness to take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions seems to be decreasing. How can the scientific consensus as to the urgency of the climate...

Many ecological and environmental economists take a microeconomic approach to environmental valuation and view the macroeconomy as one big firm whose primary task is to efficiently allocate scarce resources. In this framework, replacing freely provided ecosystem services with costly...

The recent human impact on the environment is so unique in the geological record that the official geological body that defines the division of geological time, the International Commission on Stratigraphy, is considering designating a new geographical epoch called the Anthropocene, calling...

NSF’s “Dear Colleague Letter” reflects the widely perceived need to go beyond current economic theory in the formulation of public policy. At the same time, there is a profound lack of unity among the disciplines that comprise the behavioral, social, and economic sciences. This white paper...

This chapter focuses on metals as they provide the clearest example of the challenges and opportunities that mineral resources present to society, in terms of both primary production and recycling. Basic concepts, information requirements and sources of consumer and industrial resource demand...

We develop the absorbing Markov chain (AMC) for describing in detail the network of paths through an industrial system taken by an embodied resource from extraction through intermediate products and finally consumer products.  We refer to this as a resource-specific network. This work builds on...

This paper describes the World Trade Model, a linear program that determines world prices, scarcity rents, and international trade flows based on comparative advantage in a world economy with m regions, n goods, and k factors. Major properties of the model are demonstrated, including the sources...

A classification scheme for household lifestyles, and another for the activities of which they are comprised, are described as a necessary starting point for the analysis of the environmental impact of changes in household consumption. A household's lifestyle is defined by how it carries out the...

Policy makers seek to identify an institutional framework that facilitates the commercialization of publicly funded R&D. In the space industry, the formation of such a framework is complicated by certain non-economic factors, such as national security considerations and the fact that numerous...