The development of the economics of fisheries : a common-property renewable resource

This dissertation examines the development of the economics of marine fisheries, starting with Scott Gordon, and continuing to the present. Three major phases of development are noted. First, a static model was developed by Gordon and amended by the biologist Milnear Schaefer. Second, Anthony Scott, who was interested in applying capital theory to natural resources, devised a dynamic model of the economics of the fisheries. While this model was superior to the static model, mathematical limitations prevented its use. Finally, with the rise of optimal control theory within mathematics and its introduction into economic theory through the work of Kenneth Arrow, a useful dynamic model was made available to the economics of the fisheries. The first contribution using this approach was made by James Quirk and Vernon Smith. It was subsequently developed by others to be the main theory for determining the optimal harvest rate of marine fisheries, considering both the biological and economic dimensions of the problem. The history of this develoment is traced from the earliest contributions to the present.