Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson gives a lecture Friday 26 October 2012 on “What Political Economy Can Tell Us About Money Smell”. The lecture is a part of a programme, The Nation in a Mirror, organised by the School of Social Sciences at the University of Iceland, about research conducted at the School. Professor Gissurarson’s lecture is also a part of a research project he is leading on “Environmental Protection, Property Rights, and Natural Resources”. He will analyse the so-called “money smell”, the very strong smell from Icelandic fish processing plants in small fishing villages in the past, called money smell because the plants provided much-coveted jobs; going on to discuss the broader relevance of two different approaches to environmental problems, those of Arthur C. Pigou and Ronald N. Coase.

The lecture is in a seminar in Room HT-300, 15–16.45, with Dr. Sveinn Agnarsson, Director of the Economic Research Institute at the University of Iceland, in the chair. While the seminar is held by the School of Social Sciences, Gissurarson’s lecture forms a part of the project “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”, jointly organised by RNH and AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists.

The next event planned by RNH is a talk by Norwegian journalist Jan Arild Snoen Monday 15 October on the European Media Bias Against the US, in meeting room O-201 in Oddi, the Social Science House, at the University of Iceland, at lunchtime, 12–13. Snoen argues that much of the coverage of Americans and their culture in European media betrays ignorance and a lack of understanding and sympathy with the subject matter. This event is co-sponsored by the IABF, the Icelandic-American Business Forum. The chairman of the Forum, financial analyst Jeffrey B. Sussman, will chair the meeting.

Jan Arild Snoen, born in 1964, works for the liberal-conservative Internet journal Minerva and has published an unauthorised biography of right-wing populist politician Carl Hagen, and a defense of globalisation. He is vice-chairman of the Monticello Society which seeks to improve relations between Norway and the United States. His wife, Ellen Christiansen, has been a member of parliament for the Conservative Party. Snoen’s lecture is a part of the project “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”, jointly organised by RNH and AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists.

Tuesday 9 October 2012 the Association of Icelandic Historians holds a lunchtime meeting where Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson of the Politics Department of the University of Iceland will discuss “Poverty in Iceland 1991–2004”. The meeting takes place at the National Museum of Iceland lecture hall from 12.05 to 13.00. It has frequently been asserted, in particular before the 2003 and 2007 parliamentary elections that poverty  increased in Iceland in the 1990s and early 2000s despite much economic growth. It was even said that poverty was more prevalent here than in the other Nordic countries. But how is poverty to be defined? Is it the lack of necessities, as traditionally conceived? Or is it the counterpart to wealth, as Hegel and some other philosophers maintain? What do measurements of poverty in Iceland in 1991–2004 show? These questions will be answered by looking at the evidence presented by the Icelandic Statistical Bureau and the EU Statistical Bureau and also at surveys conducted by the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland. While the meeting is held by the Association of Icelandic Historians, it forms part of the project “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”, jointly organised by RNH and AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists.

Thrainn Eggertsson

The next RNH event is an international conference on “Fisheries: Sustainable and Profitable” Saturday 6 October 2012 at the University of Iceland. Keynote speakers include the fisheries specialists of FAO, OECD and the World Bank, and three Icelandic internationally renowned specialists on fisheries: Arni Mathiesen, FAO, Gunnar Haraldsson, OECD, and Michael Arbuckle, World Bank, and Professors Ragnar Arnason, Rognvaldur Hannesson and Thrainn Eggertsson. Brian Carney, editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe editorial page, will participate in the programme.

The conference will take place at Askja, the Natural Science House of the University of Iceland, in Conference Room N-132, start at 13 and end at 17.35. There will be one coffee-break and a reception after the conference, until 18.30. More information about the participants is here.

The programme is as follows:

13.00–13.05 Opening remarks. Mrs. Rakel Ólsen.

Former  Session: Theoretical Analysis

Chair: Mrs. Asta Moller, Institute of Public Policy and Politics

• 13.05–13.35 Dr. Thrainn Eggertsson. The Threat to Institutions: Icelandic ITQs
• 13.35–14.05 Dr. Ragnar Arnason. Fisheries Rent and Its Distributions
• 14.05–14.35 Dr. Rognvaldur Hannesson. Using Market Forces in Fisheries
• 14.35–14.50 Comments: Dr. Asgeir Jónsson og Dr. Birgir Thor Runolfsson
• 14.50–15.05 Discussion
• 15.05–15.20 Coffee Break

Later Session: Practical Issues

Chair: Dr. Stefania Oskarsdottir, Faculty of Politics

• 15.20–15.50 Mr. Arni Mathiesen. Quota Systems for Small Communities
• 15.50–16.20 Dr. Gunnar Haraldsson. Green Growth
• 16.20–16.50 Mr. Michael Arbuckle. Quota Systems in Developing Countries
• 16.50–17.05 Comments: Mr. Helgi A. Gretarsson og Mr. Michael De Alessi
• 17.05–17.20 Discussion
• 17.20–17.30 Summing Up: Mr. Brian Carney, The Wall Street Journal Europe
• 17.30–17.35 Concluding Remarks: Mrs. Gudrun Larusdottir
• 17.35–18.30 Reception

Admission is free and open to all. The conference forms a part of the project “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”, organised jointly by RNH and AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists.