Oil Prices, Exhaustible Resources, and Economic Growth

James Hamilton

No 17759, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper explores details behind the phenomenal increase in global crude oil production over the last century and a half and the implications if that trend should be reversed. I document that a key feature of the growth in production has been exploitation of new geographic areas rather than application of better technology to existing sources, and suggest that the end of that era could come soon. The economic dislocations that historically followed temporary oil supply disruptions are reviewed, and the possible implications of that experience for what the transition era could look like are explored.

JEL-codes: O40 Q30 Q41 Q43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-ene and nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

Published as “Oil Prices, Exhaustible Resources, and Economic Growth,” in Handbook on Energy and Climate Change, pp. 29-63, edited by Roger Fouqet, Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013.

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