Four Essays in Natural Resource Economics

Rasmus Noss Bang, NHH, ocean
Rasmus Noss Bang ´s thesis contains four papers on the economics of marine natural resources. The two first papers deal with fisheries, while the latter two deal with deep-sea minerals.
PhD Defense

26 January 2023 21:19

Four Essays in Natural Resource Economics

On Thursday February 9 2023 Rasmus Noss Bang will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.

TITLE OF THE THESIS:

Four Essays in Natural Resource Economics: Dynamic Modeling of Renewable and Nonrenewable Marine Resources

The thesis contains four papers on the economics of marine natural resources. The two first papers deal with fisheries, while the latter two deal with deep-sea minerals.

The first paper presents a single-species fishery model and analysis. The analysis shows that assumptions of constant natural mortality and weight can lead to significant overestimation of biological and economic potential of long-lived cannibalistic fish. The results further indicate that the North-East Arctic cod fishery can achieve higher sustainable and economic yield by changing the fleet composition and harvest control rule.

Rasmus Noss Bang, PhD Candidate, Department of Business and Management Science, NHH.
Rasmus Noss Bang, PhD Candidate, Department of Business and Management Science, NHH.

The second paper presents a predator-prey fishery model and analysis. The analysis shows that preferred selectivity and optimal harvesting change with the levels of predation and predation-weight conversion rates. Among other things, the results show that positive scaling of age-specific predation coefficients can shift the preferred selectivity towards smaller predator individuals and increase the optimal fishing pressure on the predator stock.

The third paper pinpoints three current factors that can play important roles in a possible transition to deep-sea mining, namely reserve-dependent capital efficiency, cross-sector competition, and mineral security considerations. By use of an optimization model, it is shown that all three factors can, in different ways, drive a transition to deep-sea mining. Possible counter effective factors are highlighted and discussed.

The final paper presents a stochastic dynamic simulation model for exploration and extraction of seafloor massive sulfide deposits on the Norwegian continental shelf. The model is developed based on a group model building session and disconfirmatory expert interviews. The model maps the sketched-out processes of exploration and extraction. Further, it is used to simulate the expected resource and economic potential of the emerging industry.

Prescribed topic for the trial lecture:

Economic policies for tackling resource scarcity and climate change with forward-looking agents

Trial lecture:

Aud N, NHH, 10:15

Defense:

Aud N, NHH, 12:15

Members of the evaluation committee:

Professor Claire Armstrong (leader of the committee), UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Professor Martin Quaas, Leipzig University

Florian Diekert, Managing director Nature Trust Alliance

Supervisors:

Professor Stein Ivar Steinshamn (main supervisor), Department of Business and Management Science, NHH

Researcher Bjarte Bogstad, Institute of Marine Research

Senior researcher Nils-Arne Ekerhovd, SNF at NHH

The trial lecture and thesis defense will be open to the public.

PhD Defenses at NHH