Press Release
IIFET is an international professional association of individuals, institutions, and agencies from over 65 countries. IIFET Fellows are selected because they have made substantial, long-term, ongoing contributions to the advancement and development of theoretical and/or empirical economics of fisheries, aquaculture, and/or seafood trade, as evidenced by research, teaching, academic service, and/or policy impacts.
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Ragnar Arnason has been selected as one of two Fellows chosen for 2020, and will give a keynote address at the biennial IIFET 2020 conference in Vigo, Galicia, Spain.
Dr. Arnason developed a deep understanding of and appreciation for the power of economic analysis early in his career. He used his broad interests to understand a wide range of policy issues and exhibited a strong proficiency in mathematical, theoretical, and statistical methods, applying those skills to highly sophisticated and rigorous economic modeling, from innovative micro models of behavior to dynamic models of optimal resource use. This analytical modeling ability is demonstrated in Ragnar’s vast publication record of nearly 200 articles, books, chapters, and reports highlighting his efforts to use economic analysis to illuminate and inform policies.
Although Dr. Arnason has published on a variety of issues, including discard behavior and efficient resource exploitation and management, he is most well-known for his knowledge about and advocacy for rights-based management systems. Ragnar himself played a prominent role in convincing Icelandic policy makers that a properly designed and implemented individual transferable quota system would promote efficiency, a goal of significant importance in an isolated island economy so dependent upon trade. His early publication record includes dozens of reports in Icelandic that assess ongoing experience with the Icelandic program as it unfolded, all researched and written to inform the policy process as decision-makers fine-tuned the programs. Ragnar’s inside understanding of the workings of these early Icelandic experiments with rights-based systems was in high demand in a profession hungry to learn more about how to navigate and implement these initial systems. Ragnar produced a number of more broadly accessible descriptive papers for the wider professional audience, paving the way for others to mimic Iceland’s success.
In addition to his impact in his native country of Iceland, Dr. Arnason has served on a wide variety of national and international committees and commissions discussing the potential for rights-based management systems and other alternatives in a number of countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, the Falklands, Ghana, Greenland, Iran, Korea, The Maldives, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. His global outreach efforts have brought his knowledge of fisheries, governance, and property rights to a wide spectrum of institutions on the cusp of governance change.
Dr. Arnason’s long career exhibits expansive interests and a desire to understand complex mechanisms that underpin relationships between business, governance, incentives, and human well-being in a society. As an academic, he has not only accumulated a broad and deep record of scholarship, but also taught and mentored students, served on important governance and administrative committees, and disseminated his knowledge directly into the policy process.