Steady State Behavior of the Iranian Economy with Stochastic Energy Resources

The pertinent question is whether scarcity of non-renewable energy resources limits economic growth. Given that the earth's natural resources are limited; the answer appears to be yes. However, there are two reasons to reject this question. Technological advancements that conserved resources may be able to eliminate resource scarcity. Additionally, countries can import resources from other countries. This paper aims to develop an endogenous growth model with stochastic exhaustible energy resources and use it to explain the economy's steady state behavior. We consider the uncertainty associated with extractable energy resources and then develop a stochastic growth model on this basis. Additionally, we solve this model analytically using the Stochastic Hamilton-Jacobin-Bellman method (SHJB method). Finally, for the Iranian economy, we apply the analytical solution. The primary findings indicate that as natural resource extraction becomes even more uncertain, the rate of economic growth slows, which results in a subsequent decline in the rate of resource extraction. Furthermore, we observe that the variance in energy extraction in the Iranian economy is approximately 0.22. Under these conditions of uncertainty, the optimal economic growth rate in a steady state will be 7.1 percent with an extraction rate of 1.1 percent.