Governed economic development in Europe’s northernmost periphery. From company town to industrial diversity?

Svalbard is the northernmost settlement in Europe, situated halfway between northern Norway and the North Pole. Settlement is restricted to Spitsbergen Island and there are two main settlements, the Norwegian town Longyearbyen and the Russian town Barentsburg. In addition, there are a few research stations about the island. Svalbard has been visited by hunters/whalers for centuries but settlement started with the mining industry around 1900. The size of the populations is in part politically determined and has historically varied with the mining activity. Total population is 2500 of which 80 per cent lives in the Norwegian settlement, which also is the administrative centre of Svalbard. In this paper, we analyse the relationships between basic economic activities, other economic activities and population in Longyearbyen. The analysis is based on a yearly panel of establishment data dating from early 1990s. We construct a multiplier model to analyse historical trends as well as future prospects. The economic growth which has taken place the last twenty years is strongly linked to the activity in the mining company but also to growth in other and emerging industries. In the 1990s, the Norwegian government stimulated other economic activities to develop alongside mining to establish a more soundly founded settlement. In particular, higher education, research activities, tourism, and public government have evolved as subsidiary industries. In 2010, sixty per cent of all labour years were performed in these subsidiary industries. Population has grown along with economic activity and more workers bring their families. This again, leads to growth in services of general interest. Today we may see a shift in this unbroken growth trend. The activity level in mining is falling and it remains to see how robust the subsidiary industries are to this changed situation. We have calculated that it takes a more than proportional increase in e.g. research or tourism activities to compensate for loss of employment in the mining industry. The last two years’ experience does, however, show an even more markedly negative development in the private sector subsidiary industries.

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Governed economic development in Europe's northernmost periphery. From company town to industrial diversity?

Svalbard is the northernmost settlement in Europe, situated halfway between northern Norway and the North Pole. Settlement is restricted to Spitsbergen Island and there are two main settlements, the Norwegian town Longyearbyen and the Russian town Barentsburg. In addition, there are a few research stations about the island. Svalbard has been visited by hunters/whalers for centuries but settlement started with the mining industry around 1900. The size of the populations is in part politically determined and has historically varied with the mining activity. Total population is 2500 of which 80 per cent lives in the Norwegian settlement, which also is the administrative centre of Svalbard. In this paper, we analyse the relationships between basic economic activities, other economic activities and population in Longyearbyen. The analysis is based on a yearly panel of establishment data dating from early 1990s. We construct a multiplier model to analyse historical trends as well as future prospects. The economic growth which has taken place the last twenty years is strongly linked to the activity in the mining company but also to growth in other and emerging industries. In the 1990s, the Norwegian government stimulated other economic activities to develop alongside mining to establish a more soundly founded settlement. In particular, higher education, research activities, tourism, and public government have evolved as subsidiary industries. In 2010, sixty per cent of all labour years were performed in these subsidiary industries. Population has grown along with economic activity and more workers bring their families. This again, leads to growth in services of general interest. Today we may see a shift in this unbroken growth trend. The activity level in mining is falling and it remains to see how robust the subsidiary industries are to this changed situation. We have calculated that it takes a more than proportional increase in e.g. research or tourism activities to compensate for loss of employment in the mining industry. The last two years' experience does, however, show an even more markedly negative development in the private sector subsidiary industries

Regional Impacts of Tourism in Norway: Regional Satellite Accounting for Tourism as a basis for Regional Input-Output Modelling

Economic Accounting is relatively well developed in Norway especially on the national level, but also on the regional level. Satellite accounting is used for focusing certain features of the economy, a.o. for tourism. A satellite account for tourism has been developed on the national level. Because the tourists'activities are regional activities, and because the impacts of tourism are significant not only on the national, but also on the regional level, a regional satellite account for tourism was developed by us during the past two years. Such satellite accounts on the regional level are, to our knowledge, not developed worldwide. The data can a.o. be used for moderating existing input-output models, so they can become more tailor-made for analysing impacts of tourists' economic activities. We propose a paper that focuses on our work - methods for regionalising satellite accounts for tourism, - indicators applied for this regionalisation, - how regional satellite account figures can be adapted into existing input-output models of the Norwegian economy (on the regional level), and - an example, showing how the regional satellite accounts for tourism can be used for simulating the regional impacts of tourism by the use of input-output techniques.

Mitochondrial Group I Introns in Hexacorals Are Regulatory Genetic Elements

Hexacoral mitochondrial genomes are highly economically organized and vertebrate-like in size, structure, and gene content. A hallmark, however, is the presence of group I introns interrupting essential oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) genes. Two genes, encoding NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), are interrupted with introns. The ND5 intron, located at position 717, is obligatory in all hexacoral specimens investigated. The ND5-717 intron is a giant-sized intron that carries several canonical OxPhos genes. Different modes of splicing appear to apply for the ND5-717 intron, including conventional cis-splicing, backsplicing, and trans-splicing. Three distinct versions of hexacoral COI introns are noted at genic positions 884, 867, and 720. The COI introns are of the mobile-type, carrying homing endonuclease genes (HEGs). Some COI-884 intron HEGs are highly expressed as in-frame COI exon fusions, while the expression of COI-867 intron HEGs appear repressed. We discuss biological roles of hexacoral mitochondrial ND5 and COI introns and suggest that the ND5-717 intron has gained new regulatory functions beyond self-splicing

Expanding the Coding Potential of Vertebrate Mitochondrial Genomes: Lesson Learned from the Atlantic Cod

Vertebrate mitochondrial genomes are highly conserved in structure, gene content, and function. Most sequenced mitochondrial genomes represent bony fishes, and that of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is the best characterized among the fishes. In addition to the well-characterized 37 canonical gene products encoded by vertebrate mitochondrial genomes, new classes of gene products representing peptides and noncoding RNAs have been discovered. The Atlantic cod encodes at least two peptides (MOTS-c and humanin (HN)), two long noncoding RNAs (lncCR-L and lncCR-H), and a number of small RNAs. Here, we review recent research in the Atlantic cod focusing on putative mitochondrial-derived peptides, the mitochondrial transcriptome, and noncoding RNAs

Regional policy at a crossroad: Sweden and Norway on different paths?

Sweden and Norway are two relatively similar countries in many respects. At a superficial glance, this is true also for the regional policy area. At a closer look, however, there are significant differences and consequently different experiences. An important part of the analysis focuses on how regional policies in Sweden as a member of the EU, and Norway as a non-member, are influenced by European integration. Our main hypothesis is that both countries' regional policy aims and measures move towards the EU's, Sweden's faster than Norway's. The current situation seems to be that Sweden increasingly put its trust into the Structural Fund programmes, while national regional policy is allowed to gradually wither away. To Norway as a non-member of the EU this is not an option, regional policy will have to be carried out within the state framework. While the EU dimension is important for understanding differences in recent tendencies, it should not be taken for granted as the decisive factor in explaining differences. This paper tries to illuminate the regional policy experience, to what extent regional policy has a good or bad image in the two countries, as an alternative explanation to the EU dimension. The argument is that the regional policy experience has been more positive in Norway than in Sweden and that current development must be understood in this light

Regional Impacts of Tourism in Norway: Regional Satellite Accounting for Tourism as a basis for Regional Input-Output Modelling

Economic Accounting is relatively well developed in Norway especially on the national level, but also on the regional level. Satellite accounting is used for focusing certain features of the economy, a.o. for tourism. A satellite account for tourism has been developed on the national level. Because the tourists'activities are regional activities, and because the impacts of tourism are significant not only on the national, but also on the regional level, a regional satellite account for tourism was developed by us during the past two years. Such satellite accounts on the regional level are, to our knowledge, not developed worldwide. The data can a.o. be used for moderating existing input-output models, so they can become more tailor-made for analysing impacts of tourists' economic activities. We propose a paper that focuses on our work - methods for regionalising satellite accounts for tourism, - indicators applied for this regionalisation, - how regional satellite account figures can be adapted into existing input-output models of the Norwegian economy (on the regional level), and - an example, showing how the regional satellite accounts for tourism can be used for simulating the regional impacts of tourism by the use of input-output techniques