Introduction

Abstract

The present monograph deals with exhaustible natural resources, as the title suggests. It seems therefore self-evident to start by providing a definition of this concept. This is not an easy task. The problem is not in classifying resources of an economic system as being natural resources or not, but in the description of exhaustibility. Among economists there is some agreement that an exhaustible resource is a resource which is not producible, in the sense that no human activity can add to the existing size of it. This classification is not restrictive enough, since land would then in principle be an exhaustible resource, which is counterintuitive.