| This paper examines several problems concerning optimal levels of exploration for stocks of exhaustible resources and research on substitute resource supplies when returns to these activities are uncertain. Allocation of existing resource reserves among consumption, exploration, research and conservation with the objective of optimizing an undiscounted expected utility measure, defined on consumption levels, is considered in a finite horizon discrete time planning model.;General conditions for existance of optimal programs are developed and presented together with a qualitative examination of characteristics of such a system. The role of basic research in altering the expected returns to exploration and technological research are briefly examined and the ability of market mechanisms to realize efficient allocations is explored. |
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