Pareto Optimality in the Extraction of Fossil Fuels and the Greenhouse Effect: A Note
CESifo, Munich, 2007
CESifo Working Paper No. 2083
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This note generalizes the Solow-Stiglitz efficiency condition for natural resources to the problem of fossil fuel extraction with a greenhouse effect. The generalized optimality condition suggests that the greenhouse effect implies overextraction in the sense of leaving future generations a wrongly composed wealth portfolio with too few natural resources relative to man-made capital. This judgment is independent of society’s ethical preferences concerning the well-being of future generations.