On Two Folk Theorems Concerning the Extraction of Exhaustible Resources
研究封闭经济中多个可耗竭资源矿床的开采顺序，发现传统认为应从低成本矿床开始依次开采的结论在一般均衡中取决于成本恒定含义；同时证明存在高成本替代品时应先耗尽资源的观点是错误的。
Consider a closed economy with several deposits of an exhaustible resource, with the marginal cost of extraction differing from deposit to deposit but constant for each deposit. It is widely believed that social optimality requires that deposits be exploited in strict sequence, beginning with the lowest cost deposit. It is shown that, in a general equilibrium context, with Ricardian techniques of extraction, the validity of the proposition depends on what is meant by constancy of cost. It is also believed that if there exists a high-cost substitute for the resource then the resource should be exhausted before production of the substitute is begun. It is shown that this proposition is false.