Special Session 145: Dynamic Models under Uncertainty in Economics and Finance

Optimal Regulation of Exhaustible Resources in a Mean-Field Model with Aggregate Uncertainty
Alexandros Pavlis
LSE
England
Co-Author(s):    K. Kardaras, A. Pavlis N. Rodosthenous
Abstract:
We develop a continuous time mean field model of an exhaustible resource extracted by a continuum of heterogeneous price taking firms under aggregate uncertainty, where the market price is determined endogenously by the aggregate outcome and a regulator sets a time dependent tax or subsidy. We formulate the regulator`s problem as a stochastic control problem over the evolving distribution of extractors, prove existence and uniqueness of an optimal policy, and establish qualitative properties of the regulator`s value function and optimal control. We then provide comparative statics for key primitives and complement the theory with numerical results illustrating equilibrium dynamics and the optimal regulatory policy.