Editor\u27s Introduction to the Special Edition: The Economics of Climate Change in Coastal Areas

Editor\u27s introduction to the Special Edition on the Economics of Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Area

Introduction to Special Edition: The Oceans and National Income Accounts: An International Perspective

Introduction to articles in the special edition

Measurement of the Ocean and Coastal Economy: Theory and Methods

This paper supplements reports and data released on the coastal and ocean economy of the United States by the National Ocean Economics Project. It provides a discussion of the relevant literature involved in the investigation of the ocean and coastal related economy, the theoretical background of measures such as gross domestic and gross state product, and provides details on sources, methods, assumptions, and limitations of the data provided by NOEP

Economic Impacts of the Proposed Maine Power Reliability Project

Central Maine Power Company (CMP) proposes to invest in a significant upgrade to much of its high voltage transmission system in central and southern Maine in order to increase reliability in the future and to meet Federal standards for the nation’s electricity grid. The project, known as the Maine Power Reliability Program (MPRP) is expected to cost an estimated $1.5 billion and to be implemented over the four year period from 2009 to 2012. Large construction projects such as MPRP typically have a different type of impact on the economy than, for example, a new manufacturing plant. Construction and related jobs are by their nature temporary, with construction workers moving from project to project. The short term nature of construction projects means most of the indirect jobs estimated through economic impact analysis represent current jobs that are supported by the direct construction activity rather than new jobs. However, if implemented as planned, the activity associated with MPRP will be taking place a time of substantial slack in the economy, particularly in the construction industry. Thus, a larger, but unknown, portion of the jobs associated with the MPRP will be “new” in the sense that they would not otherwise exist but for the project

Measurement of the Market Data for the Ocean and Coastal Economy

This paper supplements reports and data released on the Coastal and Ocean Economies of the United States by the NOEP. It provides a discussion of the relevant literature involved in the investigation of the Ocean and Coastal related Economies, the theoretical background of measures such as gross domestic product (GDP) and gross state product (GSP), and provides details on sources, methods, assumptions, and limitations of the data provided by NOEP. Those concerned with the health of coastal and ocean resources increasingly need to understand the socio-economic context in which changes are occurring. The market data of the National Ocean Economics Program provides a comprehensive set of measures of changes in economic activity throughout the coastal regions of the United States. It is built on a number of standard government data sources, which have been specifically adapted to permit a better understanding of what is happening in coastal areas. It is designed to help answer questions such as: How large is the economic activity associated with ocean resources? How has the economic use of the ocean changed over time? How is economic activity distributed across coastal regions, from the areas nearest the shore to the interior? The data is organized by coastal state, including the Great Lakes, and by coastal counties. It includes employment, total wages paid, establishments, and contributions to national economic output (measured as gross state product). Data is available from 1990 to the most recent year of the underlying data sources

A Guide to Creating Core Ocean GDP Accounts

Start with a simple question. What does the ocean contribute to the national economy? This might seem like a trivial question. After all, the contributions of other major natural resources such as agriculture or forest products are regularly counted as the output of farming, food, and fibre industries along with lumber and other forest products. But in most countries, there is no identifiable “ocean economy”. Industries like marine transportation or fishing are accounted for, but nothing that ties all the varied ocean-related economic activity together. Without a deliberate effort to identify and measure all relevant economic activity related to the ocean as part of a comprehensive account it is easy to miss industries like tourism and recreation or marine construction. Combining data on ocean-related economic activities to provide an ongoing, comprehensive picture of how ocean and coastal resources that can be used for a variety of purposes is the task of creating what can be called core ocean accounts. This process is underway in many countries around the world, and many others are considering creating their own core ocean accounts or are asking whether it is worth doing so. This guidance document has been prepared to assist the latter countries decide whether and how to proceed with creating core ocean accounts. For those countries that have created accounts, it provides a review of methodologies that may improve future versions of their accounts. The guidance is designed for readers with little familiarity with economics but also contains practical information for specialists who may work such accounts. Why are they called “core” ocean accounts? Ocean accounting is envisioned as a system of measurement that can show the complex interactions of physical, biological, social, and economic systems in ways that are consistent, understandable, and actionable. Full ocean accounts as envisioned by the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP) will consider not only the value of labour and capital employed in directly producing goods and services associated with the ocean, but also the values of the ocean natural capital whose returns are not paid for in the transactions that make up what we usually think of as “the economy”. Ocean accounts can also include ways to measure the capacity of organizations to address the complex systems involved. Figure 1 provides a conceptual overview of the full ocean accounting system as envisioned, with the core accounts highlighted in red. But at the core of all these “accounts” lie those goods and services whose production and sale must be understood first because they affect directly or indirectly all other values and because they are the aspects of ocean economic value. They are “core” to the ocean accounting process because they are necessary, though not sufficient. This does not mean that setting up ocean accounts must start with the national income-based accounts. For many reasons a country may choose to start the ocean accounting process with an environmental account for a particular region or resource, and other guidance for the creation of these accounts will be available from GOAP (www.oceanaccounts.org)

The Employment Impacts of Wind Power Development in Maine 2003-2010

The development of wind power in Maine has emerged as a significant economic opportunity in the past several years, providing one of the few growing sectors in the latter half of the last decade. The employment impact of this development has been discussed in regulatory filings before, but has not been examined in detail using post-construction data on actual wind power projects. This report examines the employment impacts of three major wind power projects: Mars Hill in Aroostook County, Stetson Mountain in Washington County, and Kibby Mountain in Franklin County. (Stetson and Kibby were undertaken in two phases.) These projects together provide 257 megawatts of installed generating capacity

Economic Development Analysis & Action Plan: Camden, Maine

This report addresses the issues of economic growth in the context of the Town of Camden, one of the 20 communities examined in the Gateway 1 planning process. The intention of this Commercial Development Inventory and Economic Development Analysis is to guide the Economic Development efforts of Camden for the next 5-10 years within the context of the Gateway 1 initiative