In this paper, we study the impact of labor mobility on the welfare cost of a currency union in an open economy New Keynesian model. We find that the relationship between labor mobility and exchange rate flexibility depends on the source of asymmetric regional shocks. With demand shocks, labor mobility reduces the welfare cost of a union by reducing the cost of shifting labor to concentrated areas of high demand. With supply shocks, flexible exchange rates can work in conjunction with higher labor mobility to reallocate the factors of production to higher productivity regions of potential currency areas. Therefore, higher labor mobility can widen the welfare gap between fixed and flexible exchange rate regimes, implying areas with high inter-regional labor mobility may benefit more from exchange rate flexibility.

The polar bear has become an iconic species of the Arctic in an era of accelerating climate change. While polar bears are well-studied as a species, particularly regarding their physiology, population dynamics, and climate change impacts, their broader socio-ecological contributions to ecosystem processes and human well-being have been underexplored. This systematic literature review, conducted using the Search Appraisal, Synthesis, and Analysis method, explores the ecosystem services and disservices of polar bears. These are categorised according to the Common International Classification for Ecosystem Services and the Composite Ecosystem Disservices frameworks, which are utilised to consider appropriate management interventions for sustaining human well-being and minimising risks to health, safety, society, culture, and economies. The review finds that polar bears contribute to and provide important provisioning, regulating and maintenance ecosystem services, as well as cultural ecosystem services, especially in the context of Arctic Indigenous communities where hunting remains an essential practice to ensure food security and cultural continuity. However, climate-exacerbated ecosystem disservices, including human-wildlife conflicts, management costs, subsistence hunting disruptions, and potential ecological imbalances pose risks to human safety, economic stability, and cultural continuity. The management implications highlight the importance of integrated, proactive strategies, including the application of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and scientific knowledge to determine sustainable harvest quotas and aid habitat protection given climate change impacts, together with reactive strategies, such as conducting polar bear patrols and adjusting hunting seasons to avoid human-wildlife conflicts. This study underscores the importance of carefully balancing ecosystem services and disservices to ensure polar bear conservation supports human well-being amidst a rapidly changing Arctic.

Use of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping in tandem with Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) has become increasingly common as a means of determining the optimal location and design of renewable energy projects. However, to date, no attempt has been made to synthesise the location and design specific criteria currently evaluated within GIS-MCDA studies on renewable energy technologies. This study thus conducts a systematic literature review, using the Search Appraisal, Synthesis and Analysis (SALSA) framework, in order to gain better understanding about the breadth of design and location-specific assessment criteria employed in GIS-MCDA studies relating to renewable energy projects. It addresses three renewable energy technologies: hydropower, geothermal, and onshore wind power. This focus has a particular policy relevance as these renewable energy options are the types implemented in Iceland, where there is a Master Plan for Nature Protection and Utilization that determines strategic suitability. The study's results, which derive from a total of 57 articles, are that geothermal studies currently focus mostly on resource prospectivity, economic returns, and minimisation of risk and cost. Hydropower projects mostly address productive capacity issues, similarly to the geothermal GIS-MCDA studies, however, there was greater focus on providing a broader set of information for decision-makers about the legal, technical, environmental, and social consequences of projects. GIS-MCDA studies on onshore wind demonstrated evidence of methodological innovation and novelty, with consideration of not only the issues of productive capacity, but also environmental impacts, land use designations, and social acceptance. The application of GIS mapping in Icelandic decision-making concerning proposed energy projects would help to rationalise the determination of suitable locations and designs carried out by Iceland's Master Plan, providing a broader set of information for decision-makers about legal, technical, environmental, and social consequences.

The doughnut economy framework provides an increasingly popular visualisation of sustainable development, in which the ecological ceilings tied to planetary boundaries are not breached and needs associated with social foundations are satisfied. This conceptual study explores the ecosystem services (ES) of meat and dairy agroecosystems, considering the various ways in which they may impact the core ecological and social components of the doughnut economy framework. Based on ES drawn from a recent systematic literature review, this study discovers that meat and dairy agroecosystems may both contribute to and undermine the pursuit of the doughnut economy in multifaceted ways. Although contributing to the social foundations through provisioning of nutritious food, income and work, and positive health outcomes, ES losses from agroecosystems typically impose direct strain on various ecological ceilings, especially those tied to climate change, land conversion, biodiversity loss, nitrogen and phosphorous loading, and freshwater withdrawals. Furthermore, ES gains, which underpin the pursuit of social foundations, such as food and income and work, can lead to trade-offs with these ecological ceilings, the extent to which depends on the production mode employed. This helps to underscore the importance of sustainable management of agroecosystems, including low-impact and regenerative techniques that can promote the supply of various ES. The paper discusses how the future quantification of indicators and thresholds is important for the practical operationalisation of the doughnut economy framework in different sectoral, spatial, and temporal contexts.

This paper presents an environmental cost-benefit analysis (CBA) comparing organic and non-organic sheep farming in Iceland over three decades. Environmental life cycle costing (ELCC) is the basis for the aggregate cost framework, encompassing costs for investment, operations, maintenance, and environmental externalities. Greenhouse gas emissions are included as an external cost as they relate to the monetization of damages to society. Net present value (NPV) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) indicators reveal both systems as unprofitable over thirty years with and without subsidies. Depending on the discount rate, the organic farm's BCR ranges from 0.26 to 0.38, with a NPV between (-2.4) and (-1.1) million euros. The non-organic farm's BCR ranges from 0.12 to 0.19, with NPV between (-8.6) and (-3.7) million euros. Greenhouse gas emission costs constitute 28 % and 33 % of total life cycle costs for organic and non-organic farms. Across three discount rates, the LCC and ELCC per kilogram of organic lamb ranged between 13.78-25.27 and 18.23-37.07, respectively. The LCC and ELCC per kilogram of non-organic lamb ranged between 9.75-18.05 and 13.80-28.82, respectively. Due to a shortened value chain, organic sheep farming demonstrated revenue advantages as compared to non-organic. The external cost of greenhouse gas emissions from sheep farming forms a significant portion of lifetime costs suggesting that policymakers could incentivize organic practices aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, this study provides a deeper understanding of the long-term economic prospectivity of sheep farming under different production approaches.

The doughnut economy framework has been increasingly advocated by academics, governance institutions and policy-makers as a tool for delivering economies that provide a social foundation for all people, are safe and socially just, and respect planetary boundaries. Thus far, the role of ecosystem services (ES) in contributing to the doughnut economy's ambitions has been underexplored. This is surprising considering the wealth of ES literature addressing the theoretical components of 'a good life' and relationships between social-ecological systems (SES), resource use and human well-being. Two contributions to the literature are made by this study: (1) a generalised model is outlined linking natural capital to ES to the ecological ceilings and human needs of the doughnut economy's framework, and (2) an illustrative case study of whale ES in Disko Bay, Greenland is provided to demonstrate linkages between ES and the doughnut economy's framework. The findings are based on 19 interviews with representative stakeholders in August 2019 and observational data gathered by the researchers. Although the case study is a simplification of the complexity of SES, it nevertheless reveals several of the key contributions made by whale ES to a mixed economy, especially reduced pressures on the ecological ceilings linked to biodiversity loss and climate change, and a positive contribution to the human needs of food, health, income and work, and social equity. The case study stimulates a discussion that reflects on the limited recognition of the role of cultural ES in the doughnut economy's conceptualisation, evidence of social-ecological tradeoffs and complexities. These include some increased pressures caused by whale ES on ecological ceilings and tensions between the human needs, and multi-level governance challenges in operationalising the doughnut economy.

This paper reexamines the relationship between monetary policy, exchange rates and international trade in a world characterized by the dominant currency paradigm and global value chains. Using a three-country dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model, it documents key differences between the response of gross and value added trade flows to interest rate shocks, and offers a framework to test them in the data. The exercise uncovers a new margin of adjustment where value added trade flows react significantly to shocks, even as gross trade flows that are typically measured in the data remain relatively flat. This provides a reconciliation between the output effects of textbook models that assume producer currency pricing and no value chains, and the low aggregate exchange rate passthrough and muted adjustment of gross trade flows that has been documented in the data.

We explain the dynamics of unemployment, job vacancies and job separations in the wake of the U. S. financial crisis of 2008-2009 as the interaction between credit and labor market frictions. In our model, jobs are a match between workers and capital. These matches act as both the productive capacity of firms and their collateral for necessary debt financing. A balance sheet shock dissolves these relationships, raises the financing costs of future job formation, and leads to a slow building but persistent increase in unemployment. We extend the model to allow for endogenous job separations and diminishing returns to home production. In the extension, job separations decline in a financial crisis, as workers stay in jobs to avoid the low reward home sector. This model can match the simultaneous decline in job creation and job destruction during the period, as well as the persistent rise in unemployment.

ABSTRACT Genome organization in eukaryotes exhibits non-random patterns tied to transcription, replication, and chromatin. However, the driving forces across these processes, and their impacts on genome evolution remain unclear. To address this, we analyzed sequence data from 86 Magnaporthe oryzae isolates, a globally important plant pathogenic fungus, alongside new reference genomes, to investigate DNA sequence variation and the epigenome. Histone modification profiles were obtained through genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing of the four new reference strains, which revealed that repressive histone marks (H3K27me3, H3K9me3) were associated with SNP and INDEL frequency. Densely grouped SNPs were found to reside in heterochromatin, often outside transposable elements, highlighting the link between heterochromatin and DNA variation. Even when controlling for selection, silent SNP frequency/kb was higher in H3K27me3-associated genes. Effector genes, key to pathogenicity, also displayed this trend. Comparing the reference strains, euchromatic regions were often syntenic, while heterochromatic regions trended towards non-syntenic. Heterochromatin emerged as a major factor associated with diverse DNA variations in M. oryzae populations, even when accounting for selective pressure. This underscores heterochromatin’s pivotal role in shaping genetic diversity in these mainly asexually reproducing fungi.

. The social-ecological change in the Arctic is accelerated by the multifaceted effects of climate change and globalization. Among other things, this means changing human-ecosystem dynamics through altered availability, co-production, and governance of ecosystem services (ES). A group of species illustrative of this change are whales, migratory species that have played an important part in the culture and subsistence of Arctic communities for millennia. This study explores the changing human-nature interactions and whale ES governance by combining ES and interactive governance theories. A multi-method approach is applied to assess qualitatively the qualitative governability of whale ES in three Arctic coastal locations: Húsavík in Iceland, Andenes in Norway, and Disko Bay in Greenland. Based on a literature review, stakeholder mapping, observations, and analysis of 54 semi-structured stakeholder interviews, the study finds that whale ES governance involves multiple actors with differing preferences and values and that much of it happens outside of formal institutions, necessitating inclusive approaches to improve it. The study reveals some whale ES governance deficiencies and potentials, such as a mismatch between governance scales and a need for more formal governance practices based on scientific research and stakeholder inputs. Governance frameworks were present for provisioning whale ES related to whaling, but they were lacking for non-consumptive whale ES, such as whale watching. Addressing these issues can help to direct marine resource management toward sustainability by making it more inclusive, adaptive, and reflective of stakeholder needs and values. This goal could be advanced by applying the governance principles that view humans as an integral part of social-ecological systems, e.g., ecosystem stewardship and ecosystem-based management.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a bridging point between the old, neoclassical, growth-based model of the economy and newer, emerging paradigms, such as the well-being economy. The importance of growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is recognized within the SDGs, however, in addition, Target 19 of Goal 17 advocates the adoption of alternative measures of economic well-being. The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) has been found to be the indicator of alternative economic well-being most aligned with the SDGs. On the basis that increased, high-quality energy use leads to expanded macro-economic activity, as measured by GDP, this study conducts a conceptual exploration of the extent to which the pursuit of sustainable energy development (SED) can enhance GPI outcomes. Based on a recent Icelandic GPI study, a total of 46 SED themes were found to be linkable to 16 of its 39 sub-indicators, including 8 cost deductions and 7 benefit additions. The frequency of these was as follows: sustainable energy production (10), sustainable energy consumption (10), energy security (8), nature conservation (8), social benefits (7) and economically efficient energy system (3). The main implication of the study outcomes is that the pursuit of SED is likely to have considerable benefits in terms of fulfilling energy and climate policy, but also co-benefits with regard to the promulgation of economic and societal well-being, as reflected in the GPI. These outcomes, although applicable to Iceland, have ramifications for all nations who are simultaneously striving for greater economic prosperity, whilst tackling climate change and striving to deliver equitable, environmentally sound and resilient energy systems.

A protected area (PA) is essentially a governance system, a spatially defined area encompassing natural and/or cultural attributes, governed by a set of actors with different roles and institutional frameworks. There are many types of PA governance systems, guided by historical-, site-specific- and context-dependent factors. This study has the objective to advance understanding of PA governance systems, their diversity and the implications for management. We take the case of Iceland and five of its major PAs. We develop an analytical framework for the study of PA governance systems, investigating their evolutionary trajectories, conducting a comparative institutional analysis of their environmental governance systems (EGS), and assessing their management implications using nature-based tourism as a key variable. We find this framework effective and applicable beyond this study. We find great diversity in the five PA governance systems that has not come by chance but deliberately negotiated in their protracted establishment trajectories. At the individual park level, such PA diversity can be embraced as a sign of an adaptive approach to governance instead of a one-size-fits-all solution while at the national level, however, such fragmentation constitutes coordination challenges. Our analysis of the current portfolio of PA governance systems reveals they accommodate most of the needed management measures, but a problem remains concerning scattered and locked-in individual governance systems that do not support coordinated action and sharing of expertise and resources. This calls upon policy guidance with more formal coordination, such as a legal and national policy framework embracing PA governance diversity, but also securing more coordinated measures for day-to-day management.

•Study on capital assets underpinning whale ecosystem services (ES) in the Arctic.•Qualitative inquiry conducted of three case studies in Greenland, Norway and Iceland.•Food products, recreational tourism, education, and art are important whale ES in the Arctic.•Human, financial, built and social forms of capital essential to supply of multiple whale ES.

Intensification of the food system and higher consumption of meat and dairy products has placed heavy pressure on the ecological infrastructure responsible for providing ecosystem services (ES). Agroecosystem management often focuses on yield optimization and loses sight of nature's contribution. This paper uses a systematic literature review and the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) typology to characterize the peer-reviewed literature on meat and dairy production between 2012 and 2021 on ES and ecosystem disservices (EDS). Nearly 64% of the articles included in the review explored the biophysical domain, primarily through life cycle assessment or biophysical measurements. Studies from Europe and South America account for two-thirds of all articles with 47% and 20%, respectively. Nearly 47% of the ES and EDS were reported from cattle, 8% from sheep and about 20% from mixed or unspecified sources. The two animal sources that account for most global meat production, poultry and pork, were significantly underrepresented in the review. Over 50% of ES and EDS reported in the literature were regulation and maintenance services. Global warming potential was the most frequently encountered EDS and was reported twenty-five times. Conceptual ambiguity surrounding EDS posed a challenge for synthesizing the ES/EDS reported in the literature. This review demonstrates the lack of a clear link between specific animals/animal rearing activities and ecosystem services. There is a need to map the interactions between the various capital inputs, management interventions and ES/EDS of livestock activity. The results reflect a need for standardized classification of ES, definition of EDS in an agroecosystem context and integration of ES perspective with various valuation methods.

Volcanic ecosystem services (ES) is a subject that has been overlooked by the vast ecosystem services literature, where the spotlight has been focused on the many ecosystem disservices (ED) of volcanic hazards. This study conducts a literature review using the Search, Appraisal, Synthesis and Analysis (SALSA) framework, identifying the main ES common to volcanic environments. The Common International Classification for Ecosystem Services typology is utilised to provide a classification of volcanic ES. A diverse array of 18 ES are identified, categorised as follows: provisioning (8), regulation and maintenance (2), and cultural (8). Resilience is a key property underpinning the ecological processes, functions and productivity of Andosols, which are often some of the most fertile soils on the planet. However, careful management of Andosols, volcano-themed national parks and geothermal energy resources remains necessary to ensure that the flow of related ES is sustainable. Through sustainable soil and geothermal energy resource management, volcanic ES can make a long-term contribution to the tackling of climate change, including the partial offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions released via volcanic degassing during eruptions. Sustainable tourism management can ensure the protection, conservation and economic development of volcanic sites of high geo-heritage value, including national parks and geoparks, where the distinct aesthetics of such environments underpin the recreational and tourist experience.

Iceland is an understudied nation with respect to the quality, quantity and value of its ecosystem services, despite the growth of nature-based tourism and an economy reliant on abundant natural resources, especially fish stocks and renewable energy. This research reports on the preliminary outcome of an investigation to estimate the economic value of Iceland's ecosystem services (ES). The benefit transfer method is applied using the latest aggregate unit values from the Ecosystem Services Valuation Database, scaled to CORINE land cover types for Iceland. An estimate of 3,209,476 million ISK/year (approximately US $26.1 billion/year) is determined in 2019 prices, which is 1.08 times the size of Icelandic Gross Domestic Product and could be a low estimate due to the omission of cultural ES. Rather than being the final word on the value of Iceland's ecosystem services, this assessment should be viewed as an order of magnitude estimate, a useful starting point for considering the biomes and related ES of likely high economic value in Iceland, which in turn provides a basis for considering potential ES management issues of importance. The study discusses how economic valuation of Iceland's ecosystem services could provide useful information to decision-makers in a range of hotly discussed areas, including the determination of conservation policy, strategic energy management and sustainable land management. The results of this study also imply that there would be merit in conducting a national ES assessment for Iceland, which would integrate extensive stakeholder, biophysical and economic analyses to provide a comprehensive evidence base concerning the benefits supplied to society and how ES underpin the nation's economic prosperity.

Analysis of the sustainability implications of the geothermal industry has tended to take a high-level or systemic overview of national performance rather than deeper, stakeholder-focused investigations. This study seeks to begin to fill this gap in the literature, investigating the following research question: how do projects in the Icelandic geothermal energy sector create co-benefits with stakeholders and reflect the integration of sustainable energy development (SED)? The focus of the analysis is identifying the stakeholders, what the sustainability benefits co-created with stakeholders are, and when in the projects' life-cycle do these occur. Based on eleven semi-structured interviews with project managers in Iceland's geothermal industry, the study identifies an array of stakeholders in the sector, including national and municipal governments, public sector institutions, businesses, the public, employees, and landowners. The sustainability co-benefits of Iceland's geothermal power projects are broad and cut across all six aspects of SED and multiple phases of the project life-cycle. Although the sustainability benefits are apparent, trade-offs are reported between pursuing an economically efficient energy system and nature conservation. This relates to unsustainable utilization of the resources and the environmental externalities of power production and consumption. Efforts to mitigate these effects are ongoing, and further pursuit of SED is likely in Iceland given its recognition within the nation's new energy policy and to meet ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets in the government's climate action plan. These are prominent issues in other nations seeking to decarbonize energy systems through increased utilization of geothermal resources.

In Chapter 12, Catherine Chambers and her colleagues examine fisheries that center on both capture fisheries and its related industries (for example, fish processing, gear manufacturing, harbor operations, etc.) and subsistence fisheries that contribute to local mixed economies. The Arctic marine socio-ecological ecosystem is experiencing a continuous, rapid change, including shifts in the range of fisheries, decreasing sea ice coverage, increased risk of pollution, and varying forms of economic development and governance changes that can have both positive and negative impacts. The specific objective of this chapter is to use the best available data to contribute to scholarship, policy, and future development by identifying opportunities and threats for current and fisheries and aquaculture activities in the Arctic. The chapter concludes by identifying key considerations for the Arctic communities and decision-makers interested in renewable economies that include fisheries and aquaculture.

Glaciers have been an increasingly studied topic in the ecosystem services (ES) literature, with multiple scientific studies affirming a critical and diverse contribution to human well-being. However, the literature to date on glacier ES has lacked a systematic analysis of their type and the various stages in the formation of glacier ES, including the linkages between biophysical structures and ecological processes to human values, benefits and well-being. This paper begins to fill this gap by (1) detailing the first Common International Classification for Ecosystem Services classification of ES specific to glaciers; and (2) constructing an ES cascade model specific to the ES of glaciers, integrating four main stages of co-production: value attribution, mobilisation of ES potential, value appropriation, and commercialisation. In both stages, examples from the academic and grey literature are highlighted. Based on a systematic literature review, a total of 15 ES are identified, categorised as follows: provisioning (2), regulation and maintenance (6), and cultural (7). Apart from abiotic regulation and maintenance ES, it is evident that human interventions are necessary in order to mobilise, appropriate and commercialise several glacier ES, including freshwater for drinking, hydropower generation, recreation and education. Rapidly intensifying climate change has led to intense focus on the initial co-production process of value attribution and identification of dynamic ES potential, with a view to maximising commercial benefits in the coming decades where this is possible, especially linked to hydropower generation from glacial rivers. However, this study also finds that adaptive ecosystem management is a necessary pre-requisite of resilience but may be insufficient in this context to address potential ecosystem disservices and potentially catastrophic impacts to human well-being, such as from dangerous glacier outburst floods.

The concept of ecosystem services (ES) has only just begun to be applied in the Arctic, and to an even lesser extent to marine mammals, such as whales. This chapter develops an ES cascade model and related ES co-production processes as they apply to whale resources in the Arctic. The result is a new conceptual model demonstrating the interconnectedness of social-ecological processes involving natural and human capital that enhance human wellbeing through the co-creation of whale ES. An ES cascade model is presented for whale ES, which connects the five linked stages of such ES production: the biophysical structure, functions, ecosystem services, the benefits to human wellbeing, and associated values. They are further expanded to include the co-production processes of whale ES as well as its main stages, inputs, and flows. These processes are illustrated using examples from ARCPATH case studies of coastal communities dependent on whale resources: Húsavík in Iceland, Andenes in Norway, and Ilulissat/Disko Bay in Greenland. The chapter aims to improve the understanding of the human dimensions of ES and the underlying processes that enable Arctic coastal communities to benefit from whales. It provides a starting point for further analysis of possible research and management approaches regarding whale resources in the Arctic.