Empirical essays on Natural Resources and Environmental Economics

Résumé

The present thesis examines multiple socioeconomic aspects within fisheries. The first aspect is the distribution of resources. Equity in the distribution of resources facilitates the implementation of policies for their sustainability. Chapter 1 analyses the international distribution of resources as the basis to the design of successful international policies urged for the recovery of global fish stocks. Chapter 2 focuses on the resources distribution across EU Member States to design more equitable regional policies complying with the sustainability requirements. The distribution of resources within countries has wide socioeconomic implications too. Chapter 3 measures the concentration of fishing activity in Norway, studying the reasons underlying its evolution. The second aspect is the discarding practice. Motivated by reasons of different nature, this practice influences negatively the environment and the food security. Chapter 4 contributes to the design of efficient global policies for the minimization of discards by showing the determinants of the countries discarded catches. The third aspect is the food demand. Despite providing an economic incentive for the fishing activity, food demand may threaten the fishing industry by altering the climate and marine conditions. Chapter 5 evaluates which are the fiscal policies to be implemented in order to decrease the environmental impact generated by the human food consumption in Spain. During the elaboration of the thesis, COVID-19 arose, having worldwide economic effects. Chapter 6 evaluates the incidence of COVID-19 during the first wave in the different Autonomous Communities within Spain.