Economics of Sustainable Resource Use : Microbiodiversity, SDG 14 Indicators, and Fisheries under Stock Heterogeneity

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.

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