Non-cooperative exploitation of multi-cohort fisheries—The role of gear selectivity in the North-East Arctic cod fishery

North-East Arctic cod is shared by Russia and Norway. Taking its multi-cohort structure into account, how would optimal management look like? How would non-cooperative exploitation limit the obtainable profits? To which extent could the strategic situation explain today’s over-harvesting? Simulation of a detailed bio-economic model reveals that the mesh size should be significantly increased, resulting not only in a doubling of economic gains, but also in a biologically healthier age-structure of the stock. The Nash equilibrium is close to the current regime. Even when effort is fixed to its optimal level, the non-cooperative choice of gear selectivity leads to a large dissipation of rents.     

Joining the World Trade Organization: What is the Impact?

Research has called into question the impact of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on trade. This research, however, has been called into question on both modeling grounds for and failing to utilize comprehensive fixed effects. Others have found that when these factors are accounted for, imports rise by significant amounts. This paper seeks to reconcile these findings. I find that the WTO has a larger, though uneven, impact on exports than imports. The results indicate that the WTO frequently causes imports and exports to move in opposite directions negating any increase in overall trade. The regressions with and without fixed country effects generally demonstrate pattern consistency for generalized results that are robust to change. Owing to the finding that imports rise modestly or even fall without country effects while exports rise, the results imply that countries may not be as interested in liberalizing trade as selling to the world.     

Four scenarios for nanotechnologies in the UK, 2011–2020

The future social value of nanoscale science and technology (NST) has been repeatedly represented as revolutionary. However, government and industry support for the commercialisation of NST has to confront four key areas of uncertainty: concerning potential hazards associated with applications, commercial viability, public acceptance and evolving regulation. Academic and policy responses have to date largely emphasised the need for adaptive and anticipatory regulation, yet research which evaluates the prospects of success in implementing such measures has so far been lacking. This paper contributes to remedying this lack by examining difficulties and opportunities which may arise around this regulatory agenda in the UK, with the aid of a ‘policy Delphi’ exercise undertaken with a multi-stakeholder panel. It summarises four scenarios to aid policy-makers and technology strategists in the UK and internationally in thinking through how the future of NST innovation may be affected by factors associated with the aforementioned areas of uncertainty.