John Brätland, senior economist with the U.S. Department of the Interior, offers his observations on how economists have let the myth of resource exhaustion persist from the nineteenth century to the present, and why it is misguided.
"Claims that oil deposits and other extractive resources are "exhaustible" often conflate physical exhaustion (total depletion of the physical stock of a resource) with economic exhaustion (loss of the expected profitability required to induce resource owners to continue extracting and marketing the resource). Yet that distinction is crucial, because when private-property rights are unencumbered, entrepreneurs usually have several strategies available for maintaining the economic value of their firms while they continue to operate them."
Thanks to Peter Gordon
FULL STORY: Resource Exhaustibility: A Myth Refuted by Entrepreneurial Capital Maintenance (PDF, 25pp, 280KB)

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Diego Adopts First Mobility Master Plan
The plan provides a comprehensive framework for making San Diego’s transportation network more multimodal, accessible, and sustainable.

Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network
The company plans to install electric car chargers at most of its stores by 2030.

Seattle Builds Subway-Sized Tunnel — for Stormwater
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Feds Clear Homeless Encampment in Oregon Forest
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Is This Urbanism?
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