Myopia, Emmetropia or Hypometropia? Competitive Markets and Intertemporal Efficiency in the Utilization of Exhaustible Resources

Dresch, S.P. (1984). Myopia, Emmetropia or Hypometropia? Competitive Markets and Intertemporal Efficiency in the Utilization of Exhaustible Resources. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-84-048

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Abstract

Over a period of years my attention has been repeatedly drawn to the concept of myopia as it is employed in the literatures of economics and other social and policy sciences. While ostensibly a "scientific" concept, myopia as conventionally utilized almost invariably is associated with an undertone of religiosity, paternalism and exhortation. Whatever the putatively scientific observer finds objectionable in the behavior and performance of individuals and institutions is characterized as "myopic," attributable only to the failure of the involved parties to adequately recognize and take into account the future consequences of current actions. This paper represents a first attempt to provide a more scientific basis for the concept of myopia, and in particular to emphasize the possibility of the converse form of "misperception" of the future, hypermetropia, conjoining the conceptual elaboration with empirical tests in the case of markets for "exhaustible resources."

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