Climate Policy and Petroleum Depletion in an Optimal Growth Framework

This payer presents a model framework and results that combine resource depletion with optimal economic growth and climate change in a macro-geoeconomic model. In doing so, the authors build upon the 'n Nordhaus DICE model to include the demands for coal, oil, and natural gas. These demands depend upon own price, prices of substitute fuels, per capita income, and population. The resource depletion model captures the effect on oil depletion of upward shifting demand curves which respond to population and income growth. A methodological advantage of including price, income, and population sensitive energy demand functions is that it allows substitution possibilities in the "production" of emissions. Furthermore, it allows the analysis of energy tax regimes in an environment of growing world population and income, non-decreasing energy and carbon intensity, and future, declining petroleum availability.