New Estimates of the Value of Federal Mineral Rights and Land

35 Pages Posted: 19 Jun 2004 Last revised: 17 Dec 2022

See all articles by Michael J. Boskin

Michael J. Boskin

Stanford University - The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Praveen Kumar

University of Houston - Department of Finance

Marc Robinson

Queensland University of Technology - School of Economics and Finance; General Motors Corporation

Terrance O'Reilly

Willamette University - College of Law

Date Written: September 1984

Abstract

We calculate a time series of the value of federal mineral rights in oil and natural gas by using various estimates of proven and unproven reserves and time series on federal government royalties and bonus payments. We also present estimates of the components of the revaluation of this series through time.The results are striking. Federal mineral rights are the single largest item in a complete balance sheet of the federal government, dominating the total value of tangible capital or financial assets. In 1981, for example, we estimate that the value of federal oil and gas rights exceeded $800 billion, which was larger than the privately held national debt. The paper also presents estimates of various confidence bounds on the value of oil and natural gas. The methodology can be extended to other minerals, although we have not done so; our estimate is a lower bound on the total value of all mineral rights.The paper also expands and extends previous estimates of the value of federal land. New data, and attention to the detailed decomposition of federal land holdings by type, lead to substantially larger estimates of the value of federal land than have been presented in previous research. Our estimate is that by 1981, the total value of federal land was $175 billion.

Suggested Citation

Boskin, Michael J. and Kumar, Praveen and Robinson, Marc and O'Reilly, Terrance, New Estimates of the Value of Federal Mineral Rights and Land (September 1984). NBER Working Paper No. w1447, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=328688

Michael J. Boskin (Contact Author)

Stanford University - The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace ( email )

Stanford, CA 94305-6010
United States
(650) 723-6482 (Phone)
(650) 723-6494 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
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Praveen Kumar

University of Houston - Department of Finance ( email )

Houston, TX 77204
United States
713-743-4770 (Phone)
713-743-4789 (Fax)

Marc Robinson

Queensland University of Technology - School of Economics and Finance ( email )

GPO Box 2434
2 George Street
Brisbane, Queensland 4001
Australia

General Motors Corporation

100 Renaissance Center
Societal Analysis Division
Detroit, MI 48243
United States

Terrance O'Reilly

Willamette University - College of Law ( email )

245 Winter St. SE
Salem, OR 97301
United States

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