III OVERVIEW OF ECONOMIC LITERATURE OVER NATURAL
RESOURCES
The economist's concern is natural resources viewed as an
economic item. The latter is any item, any services or any profit market
activity that is useful and caters for consumer's or the user's need. The
amount of economic item or servicers must be inferior to the needs to cater for
and only when this condition is met, we can speak of economic items. Natural
resources can therefore be classified among economic items since they fulfil
that condition and are accessible, another condition that economic items need
to meet.
III.1. Faucheux Sylvie and Noel Jean François
In their work entitled «Economie des ressources
naturelles et environnement" (1995, pp 87-170), these anthers say that natural
resources are made available by the production of economic items. The larger
the number of people who ask for them, the more their stocks are destroyed or
reduced. From what precedes we can understand that natural resources are
exhaustible. According to these two authors, we can conclude that natural
resources stock is in inverse function to the demand. As those exhaustible
resources are limited, the idea according to which what is rare is dear applie
to natural economic items which are made avaible by production. Contrary to
what precedes reproducible natural resources which cannot decrease whatever
their conception, do not have any value because of the excess of supply over
demand. Therefore, their production function is either worthless or of little
importance.
III.2. David Hyman
The American professor, David Hyman, talking about the
problem of natural resources in his work entitled «Economics» pushed
his analysis further saying that exhaustible resources decrease rapidly in
quality when their values is reduced, which seems to oppose the preceding
reflection. To support this thesis, he says that "entrepreneurs tent to offer
more quantity in order to maintain their income. If that increase in the
offered quantities does not meet an increased demand, the price will decrease
and this will reduce the natural resources exhaustion rythm".
Indeed the law demand will result in decreasing the price,
which in turn slows down the exhaustion rhythm. If on the other hand the supply
and the offer increase, exhaustion is to be feared and mankind will be at risk.
As a as reproducible natural resources are concerned, there is nothing to fear
concerning their exhaustion however, the reproduction function of those
resources is not to be neglected order to sustain them, the state which the
biggest social organization, must consent important costs. It acts as a public
power to require each natural resources consumer to participate in sustaining
that common capital. That is a foundation of the state tax. The rate of
participation is fixed by public powers and this is fiscality, a domain in
which the state has monopole.
III.3. Walter Meigs, Robert Meigs and Daniel Mahon
These three authors considered the exhaustible natural
resources theory under accountancy aspect. Indeed, Mining, fuel, gazing, or
forest properties are example of natural resources; the authors give the
illustration of a coat mine which is the equivalent of an under ground coal
stock; such a stock does not constitute a short- term asset but a real estate
appearing on the balance sheet under a special title.
The value of exhaustible natural resources is their
acquisition cost from which cost from which we have to deduct the extracted
resources. The acquisition cost of these resources includes not only their
price but also the amounts used for the exploration work and for the
development of those resources.
The accounting approach advocated by these authors is not
realistic. Indeed, if we consider the example of fuel resources, we notice that
their accounting value remains historical despite the market fluctuation. This
is why exceptional depreciation or provision for value fluctuation are fiscal
adjustments allowing operator to minimize the bad effects on the value of
natural resources.
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