COWLES FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH IN ECONOMICS
AT YALE UNIVERSITY

Box 208281
New Haven, CT 06520-8281

COWLES FOUNDATION DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 793

"Resources, Technology, and Development:
Will the Table Be Bare When Poor Countries Get There?"

William D. Nordhaus

May 1986

This paper discusses the net effect of these two economic forces on developing countries: Is the drag to economic advance from dwindling resources outweighed by the accompanying technological advances? Or will the potential scarcity of resources during the next century on balance weigh down the pace of economic progress?

JEL Classification: 111, 721, 621

Keywords: Natural resources, economic growth, technology, resource depletion