This book examines the economics of natural resource markets and pricing, as well as the field of natural resource economics in general. It presents the key contributions to this field of research, including the pioneering works and contemporary studies. The book highlights the basic principles and ideas underlying theoretical models of resource pricing.

The models considered in the book underline the fundamental determinants of resource prices and the economic nature of rents for non-renewable and renewable resources. Besides the classical theory of exhaustible resource economics, the book includes several issues that are of high importance for global economic growth, such as the transition to alternative energy and the economics of climate change. The authors also consider the issues of commodity pricing and a resource cartel¿s activity that are relevant to the world oil market.

The book provides analytical solutions illustrated with numerical examples. It allows an intuitive understanding of the subject and the model inferences through graphical illustrations and an informal introduction. It, therefore, is a must-read for everybody interested in a better understanding of resource prices, resource markets, and resource economics.

Introduction.- PART I - RESOURCE RENTS AND OPPORTUNITY COSTS.- The Economics of Exhaustible Resources.- Prices and Rents of Economically Recoverable Resources.- Pricing Energy Resources Under Transition to Alternative Energy.- Global Carbon Budgeting and the Social Cost of Carbon.- PART II - COMMODITY PRICES.- Commodity Prices, Convenience Yield and Inventory Behavior.- Commodity Prices and Competitive Storage.- Commodity Trade in Continuous Time, Long-Term Availability and Storage Capacity.- PART III - RESOURCE CARTEL.- The Oil Cartel and Misallocation of Production.- Anti-Conservationist Effects of the Conservationist Oil Cartel.

Andrey Vavilov is the Research Supervisor of the Institute for Financial Studies, Moscow Region (Russia), an independent research center with the goal of bridging the gap between financial and economic theory and public and corporate financial decision-making practice. Before, he worked at the Central Institute for Economics and Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1982-1991. He was the Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation between 1992-1997. He also worked for the companies "Gazprom" and "North Oil" between 1997-2002 and became CEO of "SuperOx" in 2010. 

Georgy Trofimov is a Chief Researcher at the Institute for Financial Studies, Moscow Region (Russia). Prior he worked at the Central Institute for Economics and Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1982-1991, at the Institute for Market Economy of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1991-1995 and at the Institute for the Economy in Transition in 1993-2002.