This thesis comprises three essays on the management of nonrenewable resources. Pollution is often associated with the use of nonrenewable resources. Indeed, many of today's most pressing environmental problems are caused by these types of activities. Despite the connection between nonrenewable resource use and environmental degradation, the two issues have been, for the most part, analysed separately by economists. The first paper develops a framework to analyse the effects of a pure-flow externality on the competitive allocation of nonrenewable resources. For commonly- used specifications of consumer preferences, the competitive allocation is found to be fully optimal for pure-flow externalities exhibiting decreasing marginal disutility. Hence, the paper shows that the presence of a negative externality associated with the use or extraction of a nonrenewable resource need not result in inefficiency. The US 1990 Oil Pollution Act is the most significant attempt yet made by a nation to deal with pollution of its territorial waters. It significantly altered the rights and obli gations of tanker owners operating in US waters, effectively introducing unlimited liability and significantly expanding the definition of spill damages. The second paper analyses the effect of the Act on major pelagic oil spills occurring world wide. The hypothesis that the Act had a negligible effect on the number of spills occurring in North America's coastal waters is tested empirically. The results indicate that the Act significantly reduced the number of spills occurring in North American coastal waters and has had no discernible effect on spill frequencies elsewhere. There is a keen and growing interest in the properties of vertical relationships governing the pricing and transfer of intermediate goods. The third paper examines an unusual and commercially-important vertical relationship — the price participation system —which is used extensively in the zinc industry. The paper explores the conjecture that significant demand uncertainty and risk aversion on the part of zinc smelters might explain why the industry uses the price participation system rather than a more conventional contractual arrangement. The results indicate that these factors do go part way toward explaining why the industry uses the price participation system.

This thesis comprises three essays on the management of nonrenewable resources. Pollution is often associated with the use of nonrenewable resources. Indeed, many of today's most pressing environmental problems are caused by these types of activities. Despite the connection between nonrenewable resource use and environmental degradation, the two issues have been, for the most part, analysed separately by economists. The first paper develops a framework to analyse the effects of a pure-flow externality on the competitive allocation of nonrenewable resources. For commonly- used specifications of consumer preferences, the competitive allocation is found to be fully optimal for pure-flow externalities exhibiting decreasing marginal disutility. Hence, the paper shows that the presence of a negative externality associated with the use or extraction of a nonrenewable resource need not result in inefficiency. The US 1990 Oil Pollution Act is the most significant attempt yet made by a nation to deal with pollution of its territorial waters. It significantly altered the rights and obli gations of tanker owners operating in US waters, effectively introducing unlimited liability and significantly expanding the definition of spill damages. The second paper analyses the effect of the Act on major pelagic oil spills occurring world wide. The hypothesis that the Act had a negligible effect on the number of spills occurring in North America's coastal waters is tested empirically. The results indicate that the Act significantly reduced the number of spills occurring in North American coastal waters and has had no discernible effect on spill frequencies elsewhere. There is a keen and growing interest in the properties of vertical relationships governing the pricing and transfer of intermediate goods. The third paper examines an unusual and commercially-important vertical relationship — the price participation system —which is used extensively in the zinc industry. The paper explores the conjecture that significant demand uncertainty and risk aversion on the part of zinc smelters might explain why the industry uses the price participation system rather than a more conventional contractual arrangement. The results indicate that these factors do go part way toward explaining why the industry uses the price participation system. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

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The need for a sustainable development of natural resources has, in recent time taken centre stage in most natural resource rich countries. Environmental degradation resulting from the unsustainable development of petroleum resources has also resulted in the impoverishment of a large number of people. In countries like Nigeria, revenue accruing from energy and natural resources projects has become the mainstay of the nation's economy. However, the main beneficiaries of the wealth created by the exploration and production of petroleum are the state who owns all natural resources in line with the provisions of Nigerian law and the companies that exploit these resources. As a result, local landowners, do not directly benefit from petroleum exploitation even though they bear the direct consequences of petroleum exploitation. One consequence is the reduction of productive agricultural lands which has disrupted some of the traditional occupations of the people in the Niger Delta where the bulk of Nigeria's petroleum production takes place. It is this disruption that is the focus of this thesis. Despite Nigeria's support for the sustainable development of Nigeria's petroleum resources, environmental degradation resulting from the exploitation of petroleum has continued unabated. This raises a fundamental question as to the effectiveness of the regulatory regime governing petroleum activities in Nigeria. Using doctrinal and socio-legal methodology, this thesis explores the existing regulatory regime to ascertain if it is robust enough or effective to ensure the sustainable development of Nigeria's petroleum resources. It considers what impact, if any, does a failure in the regulatory regime have on the local population. Having established the failure of the legal regime, the study examines the consequences of the State's failure to sustainably develop its petroleum resources and consider if s Having established the failure of the legal regime, the study examines the consequences of the State's failure to sustainably develop its petroleum resources and consider if such failure has any impact on the stability and sustainability of petroleum projects themselves. Perhaps the most surprising finding to emerge from this study is that while the failure of the regulatory regime has negatively impacted the local population, the resulting social unrest or risks does not negatively impact the stability and sustainability of petroleum projects in real terms when compared with the cost of improving environmetal practices. In the search for solutions to address the failure of the existing regime and its consequences, the study examined relevant provisions of the new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) intending to ascertain if there are significant improvements capable of ensuring the sustainable development of Nigeria's petroleum resources. It concludes that while the PIB contains some improvements on the existing regulatory regime, there are problematic provisions that require some attention if the nation is to achieve the goal of sustainable development of its petroleum resources.

Graduation date: 2005

There are different views about the availability of non-renewable resources in the long run. Hotelling’s (1931) seminal model of exhaustible resources greatly influenced subsequent studies. Hotelling’s and related fixed-stock models imply decreasing availability and increasing real prices of non-renewable resources in the long run. However, most of the empirical evidence does not support the prediction of higher real price trends. Hotelling’s model has been criticised for ignoring certain factors relevant to the discovery and innovation-driven creation of additional non-renewable reserves. Contrary to Hotelling’s fixed-stock assumption, this may expand the total stock of non-renewable resources available for profitable extraction. The main research objective of this study is to address this problem by identifying a broader range of factors to be used when constructing models of the availability of non-renewable resources. This was done by means of an extensive literature survey of both historic and more contemporary thought in this regard. This study shows the evolution of thinking and reasons behind the diversity of views on the availability of non-renewable resources. Thirty core facts were identified and a broad research framework formulated, including policies and methods to mitigate resource depletion and ensure availability both at national and global levels. A key finding is that improvements in various productivity-enhancing technologies have, thus far, delayed the onset of decreased availability and higher real price trends implied by Hotelling’s and other fixed-stock models. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar criticamente a governança das receitas públicas de recursos naturais não renováveis no Brasil. Considerando a característica essencial de finitude dos recursos naturais explorados, que importa também em negar às gerações pósteras o acesso aos bens minerais e petrolíferos, impõe-se reconhecer nos diversos aspectos dessa governança a necessidade de tratar essa receita de forma singular. Para compreender quais são estas especificidades, foram eleitos dois eixos de análise: o primeiro, com a revisão da literatura sobre a maldição dos recursos naturais, a doença holandesa, e fenômenos (especialmente econômicos) relacionados à exploração mineral; e o segundo, com consulta à doutrina de diversos ramos (no Direito e fora dele) sobre a noção de justiça, solidariedade ou equidade entre gerações, bem como com a busca de especificação do conteúdo desta perspectiva, que se aplica a diversas áreas do Direito, inclusive e especialmente ao Direito Financeiro. Com essas bases, elegem-se aspectos da governança brasileira de royalties a serem analisados: o federalismo fiscal dessas receitas públicas patrimoniais; a forma de tratamento financeiro-orçamentário dos royalties, especialmente sua classificação consoante a Lei nº 4.320/1964; a utilização de Fundos para gestão dessas receitas (o Fundo Social); a relação entre a arrecadação de royalties e a arrecadação tributária, especialmente nos entes subnacionais beneficiados em grande monta com essas receitas patrimoniais; os modos de direcionamento e coação que a lei impõe ao gestor no gasto dos royalties; a transparência fiscal brasileira; e, de forma ampla, as recentes alterações (efetivadas e propostas) nas leis que regem as explorações de minérios e de petróleo no país. Conclui-se que, apesar de o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro ter avançado significativamente em alguns desses aspectos recentemente (especialmente com a criação do Fundo Social no âmbito da União, e no que diz respeito à transparência fiscal relacionada à atividade exploratória), ele não está, sob as perspectivas de análise escolhidas, adequadamente aparelhado para a governança das receitas públicas de recursos naturais não renováveis. / This dissertation aims to critically analyze the Brazilian governance of public revenues from nonrenewable natural resources. Considering that finiteness is an essential characteristic of natural resources that are exploited, which implies in denying future generations the access to mineral and oil assets, one must acknowledge, in various aspects of governance, the necessity to treat these revenues singularly. To understand what these specificities are, two axes of analysis were elected: the first envolves revisiting the curse of natural resources, the Dutch disease, and phenomena (especially those of economic nature) related to the mineral exploitation; and the second involves consulting doctrine of different areas of study (in and out of Law) about notions of justice, solidarity or equity between generations, as well as searching for specification of this content, which applies to various areas of Law, including and especially Public Finance Law. Building on these foundations, some aspects of Brazilian governance of royalties were elected to be analyzed: fiscal federalism applied to these public revenues; the financial-budgetary treatment of royalties, especially its classification under Law nº 4.320/1964; the utilization of Funds to manage these revenues (the Social Fund); the relationship between the collection of royalties and the collection of taxes, especially in subnational governmental entities largely benefited by these revenues; the ways the law directs and coerces the expenditure of royalties; Brazilian fiscal transparency; and, broadly, the recent modifications (finished and proposed) in the laws that conduct the exploitation of minerals and oil in the country. It is concluded that, although the Brazilian legal system has advanced significantly in some aspects as of late (especially the creation of the Social Fund by the central government, and in respects to fiscal transparency related to the exploratory activities), it is not, under the elected perspectives of analysis, adequately prepared to regulate the governance of public revenues originating from exploration of nonrenewable natural resources.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar criticamente a governança das receitas públicas de recursos naturais não renováveis no Brasil. Considerando a característica essencial de finitude dos recursos naturais explorados, que importa também em negar às gerações pósteras o acesso aos bens minerais e petrolíferos, impõe-se reconhecer nos diversos aspectos dessa governança a necessidade de tratar essa receita de forma singular. Para compreender quais são estas especificidades, foram eleitos dois eixos de análise: o primeiro, com a revisão da literatura sobre a maldição dos recursos naturais, a doença holandesa, e fenômenos (especialmente econômicos) relacionados à exploração mineral; e o segundo, com consulta à doutrina de diversos ramos (no Direito e fora dele) sobre a noção de justiça, solidariedade ou equidade entre gerações, bem como com a busca de especificação do conteúdo desta perspectiva, que se aplica a diversas áreas do Direito, inclusive e especialmente ao Direito Financeiro. Com essas bases, elegem-se aspectos da governança brasileira de royalties a serem analisados: o federalismo fiscal dessas receitas públicas patrimoniais; a forma de tratamento financeiro-orçamentário dos royalties, especialmente sua classificação consoante a Lei nº 4.320/1964; a utilização de Fundos para gestão dessas receitas (o Fundo Social); a relação entre a arrecadação de royalties e a arrecadação tributária, especialmente nos entes subnacionais beneficiados em grande monta com essas receitas patrimoniais; os modos de direcionamento e coação que a lei impõe ao gestor no gasto dos royalties; a transparência fiscal brasileira; e, de forma ampla, as recentes alterações (efetivadas e propostas) nas leis que regem as explorações de minérios e de petróleo no país. Conclui-se que, apesar de o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro ter avançado significativamente em alguns desses aspectos recentemente (especialmente com a criação do Fundo Social no âmbito da União, e no que diz respeito à transparência fiscal relacionada à atividade exploratória), ele não está, sob as perspectivas de análise escolhidas, adequadamente aparelhado para a governança das receitas públicas de recursos naturais não renováveis. / This dissertation aims to critically analyze the Brazilian governance of public revenues from nonrenewable natural resources. Considering that finiteness is an essential characteristic of natural resources that are exploited, which implies in denying future generations the access to mineral and oil assets, one must acknowledge, in various aspects of governance, the necessity to treat these revenues singularly. To understand what these specificities are, two axes of analysis were elected: the first envolves revisiting the curse of natural resources, the Dutch disease, and phenomena (especially those of economic nature) related to the mineral exploitation; and the second involves consulting doctrine of different areas of study (in and out of Law) about notions of justice, solidarity or equity between generations, as well as searching for specification of this content, which applies to various areas of Law, including and especially Public Finance Law. Building on these foundations, some aspects of Brazilian governance of royalties were elected to be analyzed: fiscal federalism applied to these public revenues; the financial-budgetary treatment of royalties, especially its classification under Law nº 4.320/1964; the utilization of Funds to manage these revenues (the Social Fund); the relationship between the collection of royalties and the collection of taxes, especially in subnational governmental entities largely benefited by these revenues; the ways the law directs and coerces the expenditure of royalties; Brazilian fiscal transparency; and, broadly, the recent modifications (finished and proposed) in the laws that conduct the exploitation of minerals and oil in the country. It is concluded that, although the Brazilian legal system has advanced significantly in some aspects as of late (especially the creation of the Social Fund by the central government, and in respects to fiscal transparency related to the exploratory activities), it is not, under the elected perspectives of analysis, adequately prepared to regulate the governance of public revenues originating from exploration of nonrenewable natural resources.

Currently the gold mining industry is taxed differently to other industries. It is taxed on a two-tier system. The nature of the gold mining tax formula encourages the mining of marginal gold ores. Firms that are involved in the mining of gold are subjected to a "tax tunnel", which is a tax free revenue portion. This is against the equity principle of taxation because it separates companies on the basis of what they produce and not on the basis of income generated. The South African government is in the process of implementing a revenue-based royalty system. The majority of firms in the gold mining industry feel that for the benefit of economic growth the government must consider implementing a profit-based royalty system. This study analyses the gold mining tax formula in comparison to the flat rate tax. It also analyses the reasons for the differential treatment of the gold mining industry. / Economics / M.Comm.

Cette thèse est composée de trois articles en économie des ressources naturelles non-renouvelables. Nous considérons tour à tour les questions suivantes : le prix in-situ des ressources naturelles non-renouvelables ; le taux d’extraction optimal et le prix des res- sources non-renouvelables et durables. Dans le premier article, nous estimons le prix in-situ des ressources naturelles non-renouvelables en utilisant les données sur le coût moyen d’extraction pour obtenir une approximation du coût marginal. En utilisant la Méthode des Moments Généralisés, une dynamique du prix de marché derivée des conditions d’optimalité du modèle d’Hotelling est estimée avec des données de panel de 14 ressources naturelles non-renouvelables. Nous trouvons des résultats qui tendent à soutenir le modèle. Premièrement, le modèle d’Hotelling exhibe un bon pouvoir explicatif du prix de marché observé. Deuxièmement, bien que le prix estimé présente un changement structurel dans le temps, ceci semble n’avoir aucun impact significatif sur le pouvoir explicatif du modèle. Troisièmement, on ne peut pas rejeter l’hypothèse que le coût marginal d’extraction puisse être approximé par les données sur le coût moyen. Quatrièmement, le prix in-situ estimé en prenant en compte les changements structurels décroît ou exhibe une forme en U inversé dans le temps et semble être corrélé positivement avec le prix de marché. Cinquièmement, pour neuf des quatorze ressources, la différence entre le prix in-situ estimé avec changements structurels et celui estimé en négligeant les changements structurels est un processus de moyenne nulle. Dans le deuxième article, nous testons l’existence d’un équilibre dans lequel le taux d’extraction optimal des ressources non-renouvelables est linéaire par rapport au stock de ressource en terre. Tout d’abord, nous considérons un modèle d’Hotelling avec une fonction de demande variant dans le temps caractérisée par une élasticité prix constante et une fonction de coût d’extraction variant dans le temps caractérisée par des élasticités constantes par rapport au taux d’extraction et au stock de ressource. Ensuite, nous mon- trons qu’il existe un équilibre dans lequel le taux d’extraction optimal est proportionnel au stock de ressource si et seulement si le taux d’actualisation et les paramètres des fonctions de demande et de coût d’extraction satisfont une relation bien précise. Enfin, nous utilisons les données de panel de quatorze ressources non-renouvelables pour vérifier empiriquement cette relation. Dans le cas où les paramètres du modèle sont supposés invariants dans le temps, nous trouvons qu’on ne peut rejeter la relation que pour six des quatorze ressources. Cependant, ce résultat change lorsque nous prenons en compte le changement structurel dans le temps des prix des ressources. En fait, dans ce cas nous trouvons que la relation est rejetée pour toutes les quatorze ressources. Dans le troisième article, nous étudions l’évolution du prix d’une ressource naturelle non-renouvelable dans le cas où cette ressource est durable, c’est-à-dire qu’une fois extraite elle devient un actif productif détenu hors terre. On emprunte à la théorie de la détermination du prix des actifs pour ce faire. Le choix de portefeuille porte alors sur les actifs suivant : un stock de ressource non-renouvelable détenu en terre, qui ne procure aucun service productif ; un stock de ressource détenu hors terre, qui procure un flux de services productifs ; un stock d’un bien composite, qui peut être détenu soit sous forme de capital productif, soit sous forme d’une obligation dont le rendement est donné. Les productivités du secteur de production du bien composite et du secteur de l’extraction de la ressource évoluent de façon stochastique. On montre que la prédiction que l’on peut tirer quant au sentier de prix de la ressource diffère considérablement de celle qui découle de la règle d’Hotelling élémentaire et qu’aucune prédiction non ambiguë quant au comportement du sentier de prix ne peut être obtenue de façon analytique. / This thesis consists of three articles on the economics of nonrenewable natural re- sources. We consider in turn the following questions : the in-situ price of nonrenewable natural resources, the optimal extraction rate and the price of nonrenewable and durable resources. The purpose of the first article is to estimate the in-situ price of nonrenewable natural resources using average extraction cost data as proxy for marginal cost. Using the regime switching Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation technique, a dynamic of the market price derived from the first-order conditions of a Hotelling model is estimated with panel data for fourteen nonrenewable resources. I find results that tend to support the model. First, it appears that the Hotelling model has a good explanatory power of the observed market prices. Second, although the fitted prices seem to be subject to structural breaks over time, this does not have a significant impact on the explanatory power of the model. Third, there is evidence that marginal extraction cost can be approximated by average extraction cost data. Fourth, when allowing for structural breaks, estimates of the in-situ price decrease or exhibit an inverted U-shape over time and appear to be positively correlated with the market price. Fifth, for nine of the fourteen minerals, the difference between the estimates of the in-situ price with and without allowing for structural breaks is a zero-mean process.