Resource exploitation under environmental uncertainty

Optimal resource management is considered, with a special emphasis on the p ossible occurrence of a catastrophic environmental event, whose occurrence conditions are subject to uncertainty. The events are classified according to the extent to which the damage they inflict is reversible, and th7acteri zed as exogenous or endogenous. The implications of this classification on the ensuing optimal policies are analysed. The framework presented unifies the analysis of the plethora of events considered, relating their optimal s tate processes to the particular class to which the corresponding event bel ongs. We find that endogenous events give rise to equilibrium intervals and always entail more conservation. In contrast, exogenous events entail isol ated equilibrium levels, and conservation is ensured only if the event is r eversible.