The most basic driving force of economics is scarcity. We have one planet’s worth of resources (for now?) from which we endeavor to satisfy unlimited human wants. As the human population grows, so does the pressure put upon those resources. Across the world, many regions around the world are facing severe freshwater shortages, and the growth of the IT sector has resulted in severe shortages of mineral resources, such as rare earth elements, used for making batteries and semiconductors. While we cannot produce more water or more minerals, technology helps us to use our resources more efficiently, as well as access existing resources that were previously unattainable.

To that end, scientists have recently been exploring parts of the planet that humans have previously been unable to access: the ocean floor. In the Atlantic Ocean, geologists have discovered a vast, ancient aquifer under the ocean floor large enough to provide freshwater to tens of millions of people for hundreds of years. Similarly, technology companies are exploring the possibility of mining rare earths from the ocean floor. In both cases, the question is not necessarily can we do it but should we do it. It is currently unknown what the possible adverse effects might be, and it is also unclear who owns the resources below the ocean. Once those issues are worked out, however, it will come back to the main economic question of how to put these resources to their best use.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How would the ability to harvest resources from the ocean floor affect the world’s production possibilities frontier?
  2. What is the role of assigning ownership to seafloor resources in avoiding the Tragedy of the Commons?