Authors libby rittenberg 717
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Figure 13.10 An Explanation for Falling Resource Prices
Demand for resources has increased over time from D1 to D2, but this
shift in demand is less than it would have been (D3) if technologies for
producing goods and services using less resource per unit of output
had not been developed. Supply of resources has increased
from S1 to S2 as a result of the discovery of deposits of natural
resources and/or development of new technologies for extracting and
refining resources. As a result, the prices of many natural resources
have fallen.
Will we ever run out of exhaustible natural resources? Past experience
suggests that we will not. If no new technologies or discoveries that reduce
demand or increase supply occur, then resource prices will rise. As they
rise, consumers of these resources will demand lower quantities of these
resources. Eventually, the price of a particular resource could rise so high
that the quantity demanded would fall to zero. At that point, no more of the
resource would be used. There would still be some of the resource in the
earth—it simply would not be practical to use more of it. The market
simply will not allow us to “run out” of exhaustible natural resources.
Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen
Saylor URL: />
Saylor.org
717
