Publication Code: N51
by Pamela Tisdale
This paper considers the effects of resource depletion on sustainable consumption. The application of two rules, Hotelling's and Hartwick's, gives us conditions for maintaining constant consumption through investing resource rents. A recent model of resource depletion for a small, open economy such as Thailand is then used to adjust conventionally measured Net National Product for the effects of natural gas depletion.
The paper is organized as follows. Section one provides a description of the Thai natural gas industry. Section two examines the historical and future demand and supply of natural gas in Thailand. Section three discusses prices and section four takes up the costs. Section five develops the theoretical framework and leads into section six, our empirical results on adjusted NNP. Finally, section seven summarizes the main conclusion.
February 1996