Defining sustainable development as non-declining utility, the relationship between sustainable development and optimal growth is examined critically in Part 1. The operation of the Hartwick rule for an exhaustible resource is explored under different values of the elasticity of substitution between capital and resources. The Hartwick rule is then extended to the case of fossil fuels, where carbon dioxide emissions arise as an externality. Optimal growth paths with exhaustible resources are shown to be non-sustainable for positive pure rates of time preference or if produced capital depreciates. For linked environment-economy models where pollution stocks dissipate, the optimal steady state is characterized and feasibility conditions for the steady state derived. When resources are renewable and production leads to emissions that damage the resource, the restrictions on the feasible resource stock size in the steady state are determined. Part 2 considers the problem of measuring sustainable development, deriving 'green NNP' as a transformation of the Hamiltonian function for an optimal control problem. Two problems in accounting for exhaustible resources are developed: resource discoveries and heterogeneous resource deposits. The key issue of the treatment of pollution and pollution abatement in green national accounts is explored through a series of six models: flow pollutants, stock pollutants, impairment of pollution dissipation, fossil fuels and carbon dioxide, living resources and acid rain, and household defensive expenditures. The models of flow accounts are extended to green wealth accounting, where it is shown that stocks of pollution can be treated as liabilities in the national balance sheet. Empirical measures of sustainable development are presented in Part 3, with a discussion of the policy implications of green national accounting. Estimates of the value of pollution and 'genuine' savings rates are presented for the UK and selected European countries. The genuine savings analysis is extended to resource depletion and carbon emission damages for over 50 developing countries, revealing significant dissaving in Subsaharan Africa.

Dans une perspective mondiale de décarbonisation de la production énergétique et de croissance de la production d’électricité d’origine nucléaire, la disponibilité des ressources d’uranium est un enjeu majeur. Les technologies futures qui permettront aux réacteurs nucléaires de s’affranchir de l’uranium naturel mettront du temps à être pleinement déployées. Nous analysons donc les conditions de disponibilité de l’uranium au XXIe siècle. Les deux premières sont liées au coût de production : ce sont l’accessibilité technique et l’intérêt économique. Nous les étudions en modélisant les ressources ultimes d’uranium (quantités découvertes et non découvertes) et leurs coûts. Cette méthode s’appuie sur un découpage régional du monde, la connaissance actuelle des gisements et un filtre économique. Elle permet d’établir une courbe d’offre de long terme où les quantités d’uranium techniquement accessibles sont fonction du coût de production. Les principales incertitudes de ces estimations ont été identifiées et l’on montre qu’en l’absence de découpage régional, les ressources ultimes sont sous-estimées. Les autres conditions de disponibilité de l’uranium prises en compte sont liées aux dynamiques de marché que crée la confrontation de l’offre et de la demande. Nous les étudions en les modélisant sous la forme de contraintes dynamiques dans un modèle de marché en équilibre partiel. Ce modèle est déterministe et les acteurs y sont représentés par région. Il permet de tenir compte, par exemple, de la corrélation à court terme entre le prix et les dépenses d’exploration, qui fait l’objet d’une étude économétrique spécifique. À plus long terme, les contraintes modélisées incluent l’anticipation de la demande par les consommateurs et de la raréfaction progressive des ressources ultimes les moins chères. Par une série de simulations prospectives, nous montrons que le rythme de croissance de la demande d’uranium au XXIe siècle et son anticipation ont une forte influence sur la hausse du prix à long terme. À l’inverse, les incertitudes liées à l’estimation des ressources ultimes ont une influence limitée. Nous soulignons également l’évolution inégale du poids des différentes régions dans la production mondiale. Enfin, certaines variations de l’offre (arrêt de la production d’une région par exemple) ou de la demande (croissance irrégulière ou introduction de nouvelles technologies) ont également une influence significative sur l’évolution du prix à long terme ou sa cyclicité. / From a global perspective, a low-carbon path to development driven by a growth of nuclear power production raises issues about the availability of uranium resources. Future technologies allowing nuclear reactors to overcome the need for natural uranium will take time to fully deploy. To address these issues, we analyze the conditions of availability of uranium in the 21st century.The first two conditions are technical accessibility and economic interest, both related to the cost of production. We study them using a model that estimates the ultimate uranium resources (amounts of both discovered and undiscovered resources) and their costs. This model splits the world into regions and the resource estimate for each region derives from the present knowledge of the deposits and economic filtering. The output is a long-term supply curve that illustrates the quantities of uranium that are technically accessible as a function of their cost of production. We identify the main uncertainties of these estimates and we show that with no regional breakdown, the ultimate resources are underestimated.The other conditions of availability of uranium covered in our study are related to the market dynamics, i.e. they derive from the supply and demand clearing mechanism. To assess their influence, they are introduced as dynamic constraints in a partial equilibrium model. This model of the uranium market is deterministic, and market players are represented by regions. For instance, it takes into account the short-term correlation between price and exploration expenditures, which is the subject of a dedicate econometric study. In the longer term, constraints include anticipation of demand by consumers and a gradual depletion of the cheapest ultimate resources.Through a series of prospective simulations, we demonstrate the strong influence on long term-price trends of both the growth rate of demand during the 21st century and its anticipation. Conversely, the uncertainties related to the estimation of ultimate resources have limited influence. We also underline the uneven evolution of market shares between regions. Finally, particular changes in supply (production shutdown in one of the regions, for example) or in demand (irregular growth or introduction of new technology) also have a significant influence on the evolution of the long-term price or its cyclicity.

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This thesis consists of four essays in resource and behavioral economics. Resource Extraction, Capital Accumulation and Time Horizon The paper shows that relaxing the standard infinite horizon assumption can explain the patterns of exhaustible resource extraction and prices for the last century. An empirical test proposes a time horizon of roughly 28 years to be most likely. Model calibration yields an oil price which fits the falling price after WWII and suggests that the sharply increasing price after 1998 is due to scarcity. Optimal Forest Rotation under Climate Change    The scenario of forests growing faster over time, due to climate change, is analyzed. It is shown numerically that ignoring future changes is highly likely to be accurate in terms of harvesting and will cause insignificant profit losses. Tragedy of the Commons versus the Love of Variety    The opposing effects of overharvesting of renewable resources when property rights are missing and increased consumption variety, both due to trade, are analyzed. Trade increases welfare if the resource has strong regenerative power. If, instead, the resource regenerates slowly, then sufficient increases in the number of trade partners harms welfare and the stock may even collapse. Correcting policies may be very harsh and still improve upon laissez faire. The Distribution of Revealed Preferences under Social Pressure    Stated preferences, such as declared political opinions, are studied when individuals make the trade off between being true to their real opinions and conforming to a social norm. In orthodox societies, individuals will tend to either conform fully or ignore the social norm while individuals in liberal societies will tend to compromise between the two extremes. The model sheds light on phenomena such as polarization, alienation and hypocrisy. Furthermore, it suggests that orthodoxy cannot be maintained under pluralism.

My dissertation consists of three distinct but related chapters on Energy Economics and Finance. My first chapter is an empirical evaluation of market conduct in global crude oil markets. "Hotelling rule" states that even in competitive equilibrium, price of an "exhaustible resource" exceeds its marginal cost due to the opportunity cost of depleting the non-renewable resource. This cost is called "scarcity rent". Oil price exceeds its marginal extraction cost significantly. This can be attributed to two different sources: effect of scarcity of oil on prices or exercising market power by OPEC (collusion). In this paper, I use Porter (1983) approach considering the possibility of "scarcity rent" component involved in the gap between price and marginal extraction cost in the oil market. The novelty of my approach is to empirically estimate scarcity rent using data on cost of production of oil. Two benchmark cases, where scarcity rent is either zero (non-exhaustible resources hypothesis (Adelman 1990)) or equal to minimum price-cost margin are considered. The results show that in both cases OPEC failed to cooperate effectively and in second case, market conduct estimated is closer to Cournot behavior. In the second chapter of my dissertation, we employ a real options approach to evaluate oil and gas companies' investment decisions in an empirical setup. We develop a theoretical model to derive testable predictions. A unique measure of investment costs is obtained from energy industry data vendors. This novel dataset contains details of contract terms and pricing for offshore drilling equipment, which constitute the major share of investment costs in offshore oil field development. The investment database is combined with financial and macroeconomic data, which enables us to perform a panel data analysis of investments' response to variations in investment costs and market variables such as the slope of futures curve, firms' past earnings, cost of capital and implied oil price volatility. Our results show that the larger firms, facing less financial friction, are more forward looking while the smaller firms, who have less access to capital markets, are more dependent on their past earnings. The third chapter of my dissertation is about the effect of recent natural gas production boom on U.S. manufacturing. Natural gas production in North America has increased significantly over the past decade causing the prices to plunge during past 5 years. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of low natural gas prices on energy intensive U.S. manufacturing industries using market data. I empirically evaluate the stock market reactions of publicly traded companies in energy intensive industries to arrival of new information about the unexpected price shocks in natural gas futures markets. My results show that the stock market does not react significantly to innovations in the expected price of natural gas, proxied for by monthly changes in natural gas futures contracts with a fixed maturity date. I then split the sample into two groups based on their expenditure on natural gas as a ratio of their total production value. The stock market valuation of companies in high "natural gas intensity" industries were positively affected by unexpected downward shocks in natural gas prices and the results are significant. / text

非再生性資源（NON-RENEWABLE ROSOURCES）係指存量（STOCK）只可能減少的資源， 又因其流量（FLOW）可增加與否分為兩類，一為可透過回收（RECYCLE） 而使資源的 勞務流量增加的資源，如鐵礦；另一為無法透過回數而增加資源勞務流量者，如石油 、天然氣、煤礦，後者即所謂的耗竭性資源（EXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCES） ，或稱折耗 性資源（DEPLETABLE RESOURCES），為本文討論的對象。此類資源由於不能再生，在 自然界中的存量係固定的，就現代的人使用一單位的資源，對後代子孫而言，即少了 一單位資源之使用機會，此機會成本即所謂的使用者成本（USER COST） ，因此對耗 竭性資源而言，最重要者在決定一最適開採軌跡。 LEWIS GRAY（１９１４）為最早用靜態個體理論，配合數學例子說明礦產的價格時徑 和稅負效果的學者，但若廠商要獲得最大的累積貼現利潤，則必須以動態方法求最適 條件，HOTELLING（１９３１） 即是最早以變分學方法求礦產者的最適產出軌跡、價 格軌跡及稅負效果的學者，唯HOTELLING 模型係假設存量固定已知，故本文擬將模型 擴充，使之結合探勘活動，透過探勘活動而使資源存量增加，進而分析各項租稅對開 採率及探勘活動水準的影響效果。 本文共分為六章，第一章為緒論；第二章介紹自然資源的租稅工具及租稅效果；第三 章則為各國自然資源課稅情形的簡介；第四章文獻回顧；第五章則為本文理論模型部 分，在結合探勘活動求取最大的累積貼現利潤下，分析各項租稅對開採率及探勘活動 水準的影響效果；第六章結論。

This thesis addresses three themes relating to climate change. The first is which types of fossil fuel to leave in the ground when they can differ in both their extraction cost and emissions rate. The analysis shows that without resource constraints there will always be use of at least one fossil fuel in the steady-state. With exhaustion constraints, any fossil fuel that has a lower extraction cost than the marginal cost of the backstop will be extracted in finite time regardless of the emissions rate. The only environmental consideration is the timing of extraction rather than leaving fossil fuel stock in the ground forever. The second theme is how altruistic concern of individuals for the well-being of others influences the socially optimal consumption levels and optimal emissions tax in a global context. If individuals have altruistic concern but believe that their consumption is negligible, they will not change their behaviour. However, non-cooperative governments maximising domestic welfare will internalise some of the damage inflicted on other countries depending on the level of altruistic concern individuals have and the cooperative optimum also changes as altruism leads individuals to effectively experience damage in other countries as well as the direct damage to them. Still, for behaviour to change, individuals need to make their decisions in a different way. The third chapter develops a new theory of moral behaviour whereby individuals balance the cost of not acting in their own self-interest against the hypothetical moral value of adopting a Kantian form of behaviour, asking what would happen if everyone else acted in the same way as they did. If individuals behave this way, then altruism matters and it may induce individuals to cut back their consumption. But nevertheless the optimal environmental tax is exactly the same as the standard Pigovian tax.

Aujourd'hui, il est essentiel de tenir compte des impacts de l'environnement tant au niveau de l'utilisation de l'énergie que de la protection des populations. Il faut donc mettre en œuvre de nouvelles pratiques en faveur d'une approche durable de l'aménagement du territoire. D'autre part, ce sont des espaces propices à l'expérimentation de nouvelles formes urbaines dans les domaines de l'habitat, des transports, du foncier agricole. Sur le long terme, le développement à adopter dépend du développement actuel puisqu'il dépend de la disponibilité à long terme de sources d'énergies fiables et non polluantes. L'Arabie Saoudite doit faire face à plusieurs défis : économique, lié à l'exportation des hydrocarbures qui sont des ressources épuisables et dont les prix sont instables; énergétique, puisque l'Arabie Saoudite a besoin de diversifier son économie; secteur résidentiel, puisqu'il y a augmentation de la démographie et donc des besoins de logements, production industrielle, transport de marchandises. L’habitat, quant à lui, reflète une grande partie de la consommation totale de l’énergie du Royaume. Alors, il est évident de mettre en œuvre des nouvelles méthodes pour une meilleure gestion de consommation de l’énergie dans les bâtiments afin de minimiser la quantité d’énergie perdue. / Nowadays, it is essential to take into account the impacts of the environment, both in terms of energy use and the protection of populations. We need to enforce new practices in favor of a sustainable approach to land-use planning. On the other hand, these are spaces conducive to the experimentation of new urban forms in the fields of housing, transport, agricultural land. On the long term, the development to be adopted depends on the current development since it depends on the long-term availability of reliable and non-polluting sources of energy. Saudi Arabia faces several challenges: economic, linked to the export of hydrocarbons which are exhaustible resources and whose prices are unstable; energy, since Saudi Arabia needs to diversify its economy; residential sector, as there is an increase in demography and hence housing needs, industrial production, and freight transport. The housing environment, as it is reflects a big part of consumption of the energy in the Kingdom. So, it is needed to operate new methods for better ways of consuming the energy in buildings to reduce the quantity of lost energy.