Humphreys, David. 2002. “From economic to sustainable development: establishing a new framework for mineral extraction.” Minerals & Energy 17, no. 4: 3-9. Alternative Press Index, EBSCOhost (accessed February 18, 2016).
http://envoy.dickinson.edu:2641/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7fe0933f-7ed4-420b-8c98-80a0b9505952%40sessionmgr4004&vid=4&hid=4211
For some countries, the presence of precious mineral deposits can boost economic development and growth. Humphreys (2002) analyzes traditional economic development models that depict the gains that a mining industry can contribute to output. However, the sustainable development model improved by Humphreys (2002) does a better job at modeling the mining industry because it accounts for institutional failures and other mal-assumptions in the traditional model. He writes, “As a result of these failings, and of the associated requirement for the mining industry to find itself a more contemporary basis of social legitimacy, it has become necessary to replace the model of economic development for mining by a model of sustainable development.” In essence, the use of a sustainable development model helps mining firms invest capital efficiently given the constraints of the mineral deposit. Specifically the firms should carefully project out the sustainable rate at which a mineral should be extracted to ensure use in the long-run. Our group is considering sustainable mineral extraction policies as the focus of our research and this article does a good job at introducing the reasons why we should use efficient and sustainable extraction methods. The reason being is because mining has the potential to stimulate other similar economic activities. In turn, that initial boost in output can catalyze other industries and sectors in the economy through job creation and increased output.