Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Resource Economics

Problem dimensions

The question of which system of rules – together with the appropriate organisational forms for their practical implementation – should underlie the use, management and conservation of natural resources leads to a series of existential research questions. It is often the consequences of institutional failures which threaten people and their natural livelihoods: resource degradation such as soil erosion and desertification, pollution and loss of freshwater resources, loss of biodiversity and genetic resources, clearing of forests and fish population decline, climate change, exhaustion of fossil fuels and the related bioenergy problematic, in addition to poverty, hunger and under-development, as well as institutional upheaval in many, and not only post-socialist, countries. All of these are challenges which motivate a better understanding and better formation of an institutional resource economics and the institutions of sustainability. You can read more about the Problem Dimensions and the related research projects here


You can read more about selected questions in institutional resource economics here: