Economics of Sustainable Resource Use

This dissertation studies the economics of sustainable resource use across biological scales and policy domains. It combines conceptual and quantitative approaches in four parts: the valuation of microbial biodiversity, the development of an indicator framework for SDG 14 in Europe, the analysis of size-selective harvesting under within-stock heterogeneity, and the assessment of quota management strategies for Baltic cod. The objective is to link ecological mechanisms with economic incentives to support efficient long-run resource use. Microbiodiversity generates option and insurance values that are often underestimated due to ecological externalities such as transmission and ecosystem interactions. The SDG 14 framework distinguishes weak and strong sustainability and reveals uneven progress across EU countries. In fisheries, ignoring within-stock heterogeneity biases optimal size selectivity and harvest timing. These inefficiencies are amplified by evolutionary feedbacks when heterogeneous subpopulations are treated as homogeneous. The Baltic cod analysis shows that stock-specific quotas yield higher profits than joint or fleet-specific regimes when optimized for maximum economic yield. Joint quotas can be more precautionary only if set sufficiently low, implying underharvesting relative to stock-specific optima. Fleet-specific quotas perform worst due to limited flexibility. Historical management would have benefited from lower harvests and earlier stock rebuilding. Overall, the results highlight that proper measurement, valuation, and management that account for biological heterogeneity are essential for aligning economic incentives with sustainability.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Year

2026

Author dc:creator

• Kröger, Lennard

Contributors dc:contributor

• Riekhof, Marie-Catherine
• Quaas, Martin

• Sustainability
• Resource use
• Fisheries management

Repository record source_url

https://macau.uni-kiel.de/receive/macau_mods_00008138

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:macau.uni-kiel.de:macau_mods_00008138