Journal Article Economics of Depletable Resources: Market Forces and Intertemporal Bias Get access James L. Sweeney James L. Sweeney Federal Energy Administration and Stanford University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 44, Issue 1, February 1977, Pages 125–141, https://doi.org/10.2307/2296977 Published: 01 February 1977 Article history Received: 01 August 1974 Accepted: 01 February 1976 Published: 01 February 1977

[This paper presents an axiomatic characterization of commodities for which the consumer faces a choice of quality rather than a choice of quantity. Properties of individual and market demand functions for commodities of differing quality levels are derived. Properties of comparative static price changes in response to supply changes at one or more quality levels are also developed. The analysis is then applied to price changes in housing markets.]

Twelve conclusions, graduating from the general statement that rising energy prices have led to conservation and interfuel substitution to more specific statements about short-run gasoline price elasticities, support the effectiveness of both the natural experiment and the government and utility efforts. There is still a need for quantitative data, however. 7 references.