The international economics of resources and resource policy

Abstract

Resource Economics is a neglected field of International Economics despite the fact that there has been a long debate about the role of energy and economic growth as well as about the pricing of non-renewables. Both exploration of (non-renewable) natural resources and their use can generate negative national and international external effects and at the same time, the positive external effects of innovation projects may also be considered in the field of resource-saving technological progress; while process innovations, product innovations and setting ambitious standards could be major elements of green innovativeness and sustainability provided that governments and international organizations set the incentives right. However, this broader sustainability perspective has not been taken. As indicated by the current prevailing approach to controlling CO2 emissions in the international political system, little attention is paid to global green innovation dynamics despite the fact that international positive external effects are crucial here. In the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, it has turned out that the OECD countries and China and other leading newly industrialized countries could not agree on joint strategies for fighting global warming; the US and China were unable to bridge the already existing analytical and political gap between western European countries and the