In the seventies and eighties, the theory of exhaustible natural resources developed a branch, which was called the cartel-versus-fringe model, to characterize markets with one large coherent cartel and a big number of small suppliers named the fringe. It was considered appropriate to use the...

The Green Paradox states that, in the absence of a tax on CO2 emissions, subsidizing a renewable backstop such as solar or wind energy brings forward the date at which fossil fuels become exhausted and consequently global warming is aggravated. We shed light on this issue by solving a model of...

Optimal climate policy is studied. Coal, the abundant resource, contributes more CO2 per unit of energy than the exhaustible resource, oil. We characterize the optimal sequencing oil and coal and departures from the Herfindahl rule. "Preference reversal" can take place. If coal is very dirty...