The Optimal Depletion and Exploration of a Nonrenewable Resource
构建了一个同时考虑资源开采与勘探的模型，重点处理勘探过程中矿床规模与位置的不确定性以及规模经济效应，对资源经济学研究者有参考价值。
IN SPITE OF ITS IMPORTANCE, the exploration process has not received much attention in the economics of nonrenewable resources. Among the researchers who investigated this problem, we might mention Arrow and Chang (1982), Deshmukh and Pliska (1980), Pindyck (1978, 1980), and Gilbert (1979, 1981). For earlier work on this subject, we might also mention Gaffney (1967) and Herfindahl (1974). Basically, an exploration program is a search for potential deposits whose sizes and locations are both uncertain. Furthermore, exploration technology exhibits a high degree of scale economies. Our paper represents an attempt to deal with these rather neglected aspects of the exploration process in a model of simultaneous extraction and exploration.