The effect of industrialization on birth seasonality in Iceland. An Empirical Analysis

The seasonality of births is a phenomenon that is widely observed. A number of variables have been found to be correlated with birth seasonality although a consistent explanation has not yet been found (Lam and Miron, 1991). Length of the photoperiod and temperature (Manfredini, 2009) have been proposed as explanations as well as rainfall (Pitt and Siegel, 2009) and agricultural cycles (Ellison et al. 2005, Pitt and Siegel 2009, Bailey et al. 1992). Iceland was a highly agricultural society in the 19th century but experienced a late and rapid industrialization in a matter of decades at the beginning of the 20th century. The industrialization became the driver of urbanization. Alongside the industrialization was a dramatic change in the magnitude and pattern of the seasonality of births. Ellison et. al (2005) causally links the seasonal variation in workload and food availability in subsistence agricultural societies to birth seasonality. The economy’s emphasis on agriculture diminished greatly and much more rapidly than in other European countries (Jonsson, 2004). Therefore the effect of agriculture on the seasonal pattern of births should be easier to detect. In this thesis the seasonal patterns of birth in Iceland from the second half of the 19th century well into the 21st are examined. Using principal component analysis the findings of this study show that the transition from agriculture to the fisheries at the beginning of the 20th century had a significant effect on the seasonal pattern of births

Discrimination in the Housing Market as an Impediment to European Labour Force Integration : the Case of Iceland

Labour market integration, and the free movement of people, has been a key feature of the European Economic Area (EEA). In fact, the EEA states that the free movement of people is “perhaps the most important right for individuals, as it gives citizens of the 31 EEA countries the opportunity to live, work, establish business and study in any of these countries.” However, unless citizens within the EEA are granted equal possibilities, the free movement will be of less value. This paper sets out to study the role of the rental housing market, in particular from the perspective of equal possibilities between majority (domestic) and minority (foreign) groups in Iceland. With the largest minority group of the Icelandic workforce being Polish, it is important from an integration perspective to study potential differences between native and Polish workers in possibilities to enter the rental housing market. By conducting an Internet field experiment, we show that Polish men in fact face a more difficult situation on the rental housing market than others, which serves as an impediment to the free flow of labour for this group of immigrants