Entry Date:
June 3, 2009

Materials Scarcity

Principal Investigator Richard Roth

Co-investigators Elsa Olivetti , Frank Field , Randolph Kirchain , Joel Clark


This work examines how recycling provides benefit as a risk-mitigating strategy against scarcity because recycling can diversify the risks of primary supply instabilities and reduce the impact of price fluctuations upon firms. The experimental platform for this examination is a System Dynamics simulation model that strives to capture the dynamics of a particular material’s market supply, demand and price, focused initially on platinum.