concept

Optimal extinction

The mathematical result showing that a single owner, entirely rational and holding absolute monopoly, can still find hunting a species to extinction the most profitable choice. The conditions are twofold. First, the species' growth rate is below the owner's discount rate, so waiting for the population to breed earns less than selling out and investing the money elsewhere. Second, the price is high enough that the cost of finding the last individuals remains negligible against revenue, so the market's only brake is disabled. What makes the result uncomfortable is that it requires no ignorance, no regulatory failure, and no greed: it emerges from calculating correctly.