This monograph provides a concise introduction to the overlapping generations approach to the intertemporal economics of renewable natural resources. In contrast to the dominant infinitely-lived agent (ILA) approach it acknowledges that natural resources typically outlive the individuals who use them. Finite lifetimes, generations overlap and competing natural and man-made capital facilitate long-run intergenerational inefficiency and inequity (unsustainability) of market allocations. While avoiding any presumption of either doomsday or a golden age, the book investigates the structural and institutional preconditions needed to ensure that renewable resources are used efficiently and equitably across generations. The primary aim of this book is to provide an easy-to-follow guide to the analytically much more demanding journal literature. This is achieved by using the same model type throughout the book and by adhering to functional specifications that allow for explicit equilibrium solutions.
Über den Autor Karl Farmer
![]()
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Karl Farmer is Vice Dean for students at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Sociology and Head of the department of economics at the University of Graz. His current research addresses the international effects of public debt reduction, climate policy and the euro crisis by means of the Overlapping Generations approach. He is author of many books and articles in established journals as Economic Theory, Economic Modeling, Journal of Economics, Resource and Environmental Economics, International Review of Economics and International Economic Journal among others. Mag. Matthias Schelnast is lecturer for macro, micro, and international economics at the department of economics at the University of Graz. He is writing his doctoral thesis on public debt and optimal debt reduction.
