The Importance of the Rare Earths for the World Economy
“Rare earth elements” (REE) is a frontier discipline between economics as a generic science and the economy of rare earth elements, which studies the production, the distribution and the circulation of the rare earths. On our planet, over a quarter of the new technologies involved in producing economic goods use REE, also known as critical minerals. In the near future, the competition to control the reserves of REE will get tough. In the 21st Century, REE are as important as oil was for the previous century and coal for the 19 th Century, namely, the engine of a new industrial revolution. Rare earth elements represent a new concept and become an important part of our daily life, given the increased use of smart devices.