Suchergebnisse

Income equality and trust seem to go along with several other ingredients of social capital as determinants of economic growth across the globe. In a large sample of countries, equality in the distribution of income as measured by the World Bank and by The Standardized World Income Inequality Database are seen to be correlated with economic diversification, the rule of law, transparency as measured by the corruption perceptions index from Transparency International, trust as measured in the World Values Survey, and democracy, all of which are good for growth as reflected in the purchasing power of per capita national income.

This study discusses the economic, political, and judicial aftermath of Iceland´s financial collapse in 2008. It considers lessons learned, or not learned, with emphasis on unsettled issues concerning the distribution of incomes and wealth, banking, and politics. The study makes three main points. First, the measurement of income flows and living standards needs to be adjusted in two respects. Second, since the crisis, Ireland has made a significantly stronger recovery than Iceland in terms of per capita income. Third, Iceland´s economic recovery from the crisis is marred by a visible deterioration of various components of the country´s social capital.

Per Magnus Wijkman was the first foreign observer to urge Iceland in print to regulate its fisheries by price. This was in 1975, nine years before the Icelandic fishing quota system came into effect, a system judged discriminatory and unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Iceland in 1998 (but not in 2000!) as well as by the United Nations Committee on Human Rights in 2007, principally because the advice given by Wijkman and others was not heeded. This paper discusses the human rights aspects of natural resources management in view of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which stipulates the inalienable rights of nations to the rents from their natural resources.

This paper reviews aspects of the constitution making process in Iceland after the financial collapse of 2008, emphasizing the differences between the provisional constitution of 1944 when Iceland separated unilaterally from Nazi-occupied Denmark and Denmark's 1849 constitution which served, with notable exceptions, as the prototype for Iceland's 1944 constitution. The comparison and contrast between the Icelandic and Danish constitutions invites a comparison also between Iceland's 1944 constitution with the new post-crash constitution from 2011 accepted by two thirds of the voters in a national referendum in 2012 and waiting to be ratified twice by a reluctant Parliament. Against this comparative background, the paper proceeds to discuss political and procedural aspects of Iceland´s constitutional reform project, and concludes by proposing lessons to be learned from Iceland´s experience thus far.