IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/resene/v36y2014i1p49-63.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Uranium and nuclear power: The role of exploration information in framing public policy

Author

Listed:
  • Mason, Charles F.

Abstract

As the importance of addressing climate change increases the future global role for nuclear power, the demand for uranium will increase. Expanded uranium reserves will be needed to meet this increased demand, highlighting the importance of future exploratory efforts. To shed light on the social desirability of future exploration levels I analyze a past expansionary period in the U.S. uranium industry. I find exploration levels were smaller than socially efficient during this period, resulting from a deviation between the private and social values of information. Looking forward, public policies can encourage optimal exploration levels by addressing this deviation.

Suggested Citation

  • Mason, Charles F., 2014. "Uranium and nuclear power: The role of exploration information in framing public policy," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 49-63.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:36:y:2014:i:1:p:49-63
    DOI: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2013.11.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0928765513000845
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.reseneeco.2013.11.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mason, Charles F., 1989. "Exploration information and AEC regulation of the domestic uranium industry," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 421-448, July.
    2. Milgrom, Paul & Weber, Robert J., 1982. "The value of information in a sealed-bid auction," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 105-114, June.
    3. Pindyck, Robert S, 1978. "The Optimal Exploration and Production of Nonrenewable Resources," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 841-861, October.
    4. Harold Hotelling, 1931. "The Economics of Exhaustible Resources," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(2), pages 137-137.
    5. Mason, Charles F., 1985. "Learning from exploration information : The case of uranium," Resources and Energy, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 243-257, September.
    6. Victor P. Goldberg, 1977. "Competitive Bidding and the Production of Precontract Information," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 8(1), pages 250-261, Spring.
    7. Paul L. Joskow & John E. Parsons, 2012. "The Future of Nuclear Power After Fukushima," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    8. Lucas W. Davis, 2012. "Prospects for Nuclear Power," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 49-66, Winter.
    9. Swierzbinski, Joseph E. & Mendelsohn, Robert, 1989. "Information and exhaustible resources: A Bayesian analysis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 193-208, May.
    10. Mason, Charles F., 1986. "Exploration, information, and regulation in an exhaustible mineral industry," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 153-166, June.
    11. Grossman, Sanford J & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1976. "Information and Competitive Price Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 246-253, May.
    12. Isaac, R. Mark, 1987. "The value of information in resource exploration: The interaction of strategic plays and institutional rules," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 313-322, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zirui Wang & Wanli Xing, 2022. "Study on the Characteristics and Evolution Trends of Global Uranium Resource Trade from the Perspective of a Complex Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Castillo, Emilio & Roa, Cintia, 2021. "Defining geological maturity: The effect of discoveries on early-stage mineral exploration," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Emilio Castillo, 2020. "Mineral Exploration and the Discovery of New Deposits," Working Papers 2020-06, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emilio Castillo, 2020. "Mineral Exploration and the Discovery of New Deposits," Working Papers 2020-06, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    2. Jakobsson, Kristofer & Söderbergh, Bengt & Snowden, Simon & Li, Chuan-Zhong & Aleklett, Kjell, 2012. "Oil exploration and perceptions of scarcity: The fallacy of early success," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 1226-1233.
    3. Roger Fouquet, 2012. "Economics of Energy and Climate Change: Origins, Developments and Growth," Working Papers 2012-08, BC3.
    4. Castillo, Emilio & Roa, Cintia, 2021. "Defining geological maturity: The effect of discoveries on early-stage mineral exploration," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Jeffrey A. Krautkraemer, 1998. "Nonrenewable Resource Scarcity," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 2065-2107, December.
    6. Boyce, John R. & Vojtassak, Lucia, 2008. "An 'oil'igopoly theory of exploration," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 428-454, August.
    7. Reynolds, Douglas B. & Baek, Jungho, 2012. "Much ado about Hotelling: Beware the ides of Hubbert," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 162-170.
    8. Brown, Jason P. & Maniloff, Peter & Manning, Dale T., 2020. "Spatially variable taxation and resource extraction: The impact of state oil taxes on drilling in the US," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    9. Julien Daubanes & Pierre Lasserre, 2019. "The supply of non-renewable resources," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1084-1111, August.
    10. Pete Maniloff & Dale T. Manning, 2015. "Division of Nonrenewable Resource Rents: A Model of Asymmetric Nash Competition with State Control of Heterogeneous Resources," Working Papers 2015-08, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    11. Kamiar Mohaddes, 2013. "Econometric modelling of world oil supplies: terminal price and the time to depletion," OPEC Energy Review, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, vol. 37(2), pages 162-193, June.
    12. Silviu Nate & Yuriy Bilan & Mariia Kurylo & Olena Lyashenko & Piotr Napieralski & Ganna Kharlamova, 2021. "Mineral Policy within the Framework of Limited Critical Resources and a Green Energy Transition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-32, May.
    13. Zaklan, Aleksandar & Abrell, Jan & Neumann, Anne, 2016. "Stationarity changes in long-run energy commodity prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 96-103.
    14. Germeshausen, Robert & Panke, Timo & Wetzel, Heike, 2014. "Investigating the influence of firm characteristics on the ability to exercise market power: A stochastic frontier analysis approach with an application to the iron ore market," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-105, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Elin Berg & Snorre Kverndokk & Knut Einar Rosendahl, 1999. "Optimal Oil Exploration under Climate Treaties," Discussion Papers 245, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    16. Toman, Michael & Krautkraemer, Jeffrey, 2003. "Fundamental Economics of Depletable Energy Supply," RFF Working Paper Series dp-03-01, Resources for the Future.
    17. Eiji Sawada & Shunsuke Managi, 2014. "Effects of Technological Change on Non-renewable Resource Extraction and Exploration," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 3(1), pages 1-12, December.
    18. Vicki Duscha & Katja Schumacher & Joachim Schleich & Pierre Buisson, 2014. "Costs of meeting international climate targets without nuclear power," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 327-352, May.
    19. van den Bremer, Ton & van der Ploeg, Frederick & Wills, Samuel, 2016. "The Elephant In The Ground: Managing Oil And Sovereign Wealth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 113-131.
    20. van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2018. "Political economy of dynamic resource wars," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 765-782.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Exploration; Learning; Nuclear power; Uranium; Value of information;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • L72 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction - - - Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Other Nonrenewable Resources
    • Q31 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:36:y:2014:i:1:p:49-63. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505569 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.