Three Approaches To Understanding The Role Of Geography On Natural Resource Development

This dissertation proposes three different modeling approaches for studying the role of geography in the regional development of natural resources. We explicitly introduce the notion of space into market-based economic concepts in order to capture a more realistic picture of recent trends in the development of greener energy technologies through a more responsible utilization of natural resources. First, we use a regional extension of a Computable General Equilibrium model in order to understand the short term impacts of the extraction of natural gas using hydrofracking, numerical experiments are used to analyze potential impacts of this industry in the New York State and Pennsylvanian economy. There is clear evidence that hydrofracking in Pennsylvania has had spillover effects on bordering New York State counties were hydrofracking is not yet permitted. Policies on natural resource development should adopt a regional approach since jurisdictional boundaries are not relevant when dealing with whole-wide economic impacts. Second, we adopt recent advances in the analysis of spatial panel data in order to study agglomeration economies in the greenhouse and nursery industries in the Northeast of the United States. These industries have become essential to the urban consolidation of this region. Finally, we employ the bottom-up top-down paradigm through the combination of a static Computable General Equilibrium model and a production and distribution framework for the analysis of the potential effects of the hydrogen industry for vehicle transportation. We use the case of Hawaii since it has the highest energy prices within the US and has a clear necessity for adopting cheaper and more sustainable sources of energy in the near future. The numerical results show that a public-private subsidy scheme represents the most viable policy for the adoption of hydrogen as a source of energy in the island