Cartel Extraction and Backstop Entry

Clearly there remain number of problems in the field of energy today. Of particular relevance is the role of substitutes and/or backstop technologies (see Nordhaus (1973)) in affecting the extraction decisions of monopolistic producers of (scarce) exhaustible resources. Research and development is c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Recherches économiques de Louvain 1980-01, Vol.46 (3), p.255-266
Main Author: MELESE, François
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cartels
Economic resources
Energy resources
Exhaustion
Marginal profit
Monopoly
Natural resources
Nonrenewable resources
Optimal solutions
Trajectories
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Clearly there remain number of problems in the field of energy today. Of particular relevance is the role of substitutes and/or backstop technologies (see Nordhaus (1973)) in affecting the extraction decisions of monopolistic producers of (scarce) exhaustible resources. Research and development is currently underway in most industrialized countries with the objective of producing alternatives to conventional energy inputs. Two principle motivating factors appear to be stimulating R & D in nations which import a significant share of their resource requirements for energy production. The first involves the inherent scarcity of these inputs which, unlike other capital assets, are nonrenewable. The second factor (which is augmented by the first) concerns the strategic or « essential » (see Dasgupta & Heal (1979)) nature of exhaustible resources in production. Such inputs often lie concentrated in the hands of a few potentially unstable regimes which for either political or strategic reasons makes continued dependance on these resources undesirable.
ISSN:0770-4518
1782-1495
DOI:10.1017/S0770451800006217