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Doing business 2020 is the 17th in a series of annual studies investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe - and over time. Regulations affecting 12 areas of the life of a business are covered: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency, employing workers, and contracting with the government. The employing workers and contracting with the government indicator sets are not included in this year's ranking on the ease of doing business. Data in doing business 2020 are current as of May 1, 2019. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where, and why. This economy profile presents indicators for Iceland; for 2020, Iceland ranks 26.

Authorities all over the world have faced enormous challenges in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, including how to circulate up-to-date and accurate information to the general public concerning the novel coronavirus. In light of this, there has been much focus on studying information dissemination regarding COVID-19. Most of the attention in this communication research has been on large states such as the United States and the United Kingdom but smaller states like Iceland have mostly been absent in these studies. The aim of this article is twofold. First, it adds the Icelandic case to the COVID-19 communication research literature by examining findings from two representative surveys that were conducted in Iceland in June and August 2020 concerning COVID-19 and information dissemination, and how these findings compare to similar studies from larger states. Second, building on limited existing academic work on political communication in small states, I explore how the dissemination of information concerning the COVID-19 pandemic might be, to some extent, different in Iceland than in larger states because of the size variable. ; peer-reviewed

This study was designed to explore if alcohol consumption patterns had changes among Icelanders following the pandemic restrictions and lockdown in two times points. Questioners was carried out in May 2020 five months after the pandemic and restrictions COVID-19 were established in Iceland and again ten months later in March 2021. The research questions were as follows. Firstly, did individuals drink more or less alcoholic beverages than usual in the last two months than last twelve months before? Secondly, have individuals been drunk (5 or more drinks in the same sitting) more often or less in the last two months than last twelve months before? And thirdly, participants were also asked about their background, such as gender, age, education, work, marital status, household and monthly income related to those questions.

Quantitative methods were used, the data collection was conducted in May 2020 and March 2021. In the year 2020, a random sample of 850 participants answered questions about their alcohol consumption at the time point compared to last twelve months for May of 2020 and in March 2021 another 864 randomly selected participants answered the same survey. The participants answered the questions on a five-point Likert scale. The data was analysed descriptively.

More than a half of the participants did not experience any changing in their alcohol consumption. Further, participants experienced less frequent drinking and fewer drinks during the pandemic and lockdown compering to the last twelve months before the survey both 2020 and 2021. Interesting results of this study include the fact that alcohol consumption seems to increase between the two years or as the epidemic progressed. Further, the participants who answered the survey and lived with their families, i.e. spouses and children, reported the most changes in their alcohol consumption between the years of 2020 and 2021.

'Not overly perturbed' is a fair characterisation of the Icelandic approach to COVID-19. This is not to imply carelessness—Iceland acted decisively, and very swiftly. At the end of January, weeks before Icelanders, on ski holidays in northern Italy and Austria, brought the virus home with them (the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was of an Australian tourist who died at the hospital in Húsavík, in the north of the country, on 28 February), a virus testing regime had commenced. On 14 March, returning Icelanders were all subject to 14 days quarantine, a limit was set on the number of people who may gather together, swimming pools, gyms and other such venues were closed, restaurants remained open but tables were spaced two metres apart, schools were shut and international borders closed. Further, two economic stimulus packages, totalling ISK 290 billion (US$2.1 billion), were introduced in April, to support companies forced to close and job seekers, to provide low interest loans, and to support mental health initiatives.2 The first stage ISK 60 billion (US$ 411 million) was released in April, the second stage ISK 230 billion (US$ 1.6 billion) to be released in June 2020. By late May, after just eight positive tests in the preceding 30 days, Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir cautiously announced that the virus was under control, and Iceland is planning to reopen its borders to international tourists from 15 June. Visitors will be tested at the border, or will be permitted to enter if they bring proof of recent negative testing.

This paper analyses Iceland's macroeconomic policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic during the first phase of virus contagion in Western Europe (January-June 2020). The country's smallness, as evidenced by trade openness and economic specialisation, provided for acute crises in Reykjavík's fight against the virus as a lack of local manufacturing forced the government to procure medical supplies, equipment, and pharmaceuticals from a crowded and competitive international market. The country's reliance on tourism resulted in massive economic loss as North Atlantic economies implemented travel restrictions and closed national borders. However, the Icelandic government's massive welfare and economic rescue packages kept the national economy afloat, earning praise from world markets. The intervention of the Icelandic Central Bank into currency markets, in particular, proved sufficient in stabilising the value of the national currency. Reykjavík's skilful macroeconomic governance during spring and summer 2020 allowed the government to access revenue independent of taxation. This paper finds that although Iceland was disadvantaged by its size during critical phases of virus spread, the country's smallness and control of an independent national currency enabled a robust macroeconomic response to stabilise wages and the national economy, mitigating the impact of the concurrent global recession. ; peer-reviewed

Nabo is a project launched under the Swedish presidency in the Nordic Council of Ministers 2018. The project is run by the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society over the period 2018-2020 and seeks to make the youth perspective visible through the words of Nordic youth. Young people's voices will be heard in questions regarding their lives. And based on that knowledge they will be given the opportunity to participate and influence political decisions. Young people are asked to describe their everyday lives and how they perceive their opportunities and obstacles. From their stories Nabo builds a framework of success factors for social inclusion in the Nordic region. This study is based on six focus group interviews with youth in different places in Iceland. In this report you find the result from the Icelandic study. Similar studies are carried out in the other Nordic countries and in the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.

The scope of the dataset covers 31 European countries (EU MS 27 + United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland). For each of this country, the TMD provides information about the types of government and the background of the ministers, which have been examined for the period 2000-2020. In total, it represents 7051 ministers and 298 cabinets.
Country experts were contacted in order to fill in the dataset for each country. Country data were double-checked with the ULB research team.

his annual report of the European Environment Agency (EEA) provides a summary of the information on the quality of fuels in the European Union (EU) in 2020, as reported in 2021 by EU Member States, Iceland and Norway under Directive 98/70/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels (the Fuel Quality Directive, FQD) as amended by Directive 2009/30/EC. Each year, under the requirements of FQD Article 8, EU Member States must report information relating to the volume and the quality of petrol and diesel fuels sold for road transport in their territories. More specifically, Member States must sample fuels each year and analyse their technical characteristics to ensure that they are consistent with the requirements of the FQD. The limiting values set out by the FQD concern parameters such as, for petrol fuels, octane number, content of lead, manganese, oxygen and sulphur, etc. and, for diesel fuels, content of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), manganese and sulphur, etc. Member States assess the quality of fuels through a Fuel Quality Monitoring System (FQMS). European Standard EN 14274 provides information on how to set up an FQMS, depending on the country size and statistical model used, as well as guidance on determining the minimum number of samples to be taken. Since 2015, the EEA has supported the European Commission's Directorate-General for Climate Action in the compilation, quality checking and dissemination of information reported under the FQD.

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Semper, S., Pickart, R. S., Vage, K., Larsen, K. M. H., Hatun, H., & Hansen, B. The Iceland-Faroe slope jet: a conduit for dense water toward the Faroe Bank Channel overflow. Nature Communications, 11(1), (2020): 5390, doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19049-5. ; Dense water from the Nordic Seas passes through the Faroe Bank Channel and supplies the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, a critical component of the climate system. Yet, the upstream pathways of this water are not fully known. Here we present evidence of a previously unrecognised deep current following the slope from Iceland toward the Faroe Bank Channel using high-resolution, synoptic shipboard observations and long-term measurements north of the Faroe Islands. The bulk of the volume transport of the current, named the Iceland-Faroe Slope Jet (IFSJ), is relatively uniform in hydrographic properties, very similar to the North Icelandic Jet flowing westward along the slope north of Iceland toward Denmark Strait. This suggests a common source for the two major overflows across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. The IFSJ can account for approximately half of the total overflow transport through the Faroe Bank Channel, thus constituting a significant component of the overturning circulation in the Nordic Seas. ; Support for this work was provided by the Bergen Research Foundation Grant BFS2016REK01 (S.S. and K.V.), the U.S. National Science Foundation Grants OCE-1558742 and OCE-1259618 (R.S.P.), the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities (K.M.H.L., H.H., and B.H.) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 727852 (Blue-Action) (K.M.H.L., H.H., and B.H.).

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink below ; Introduction: Previous evidence has been conflicting regarding the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic lockdowns on obstetric intervention and preterm birth rates. The literature to date suggests potentially differential underlying mechanisms based on country economic setting. We aimed to study these outcomes in an Icelandic population where uniform lockdown measures were implemented across the country. Material and methods: The study included all singleton births (n = 20 680) during 2016-2020 identified from the population-based Icelandic Medical Birth Register. We defined two lockdown periods during March-May and October-December in 2020 according to government implemented nationwide lockdown. We compared monthly rates of cesarean section, induction of labor and preterm birth during lockdown with the same time periods in the 4 previous years (2016-2019) using logit binomial regression adjusted for confounders. Results: Our results indicated a reduction in the overall cesarean section rate, which was mainly evident for elective cesarean section, both during the first (adjusted odd ratio [aOR] 0.71, 95% CI 0.51-0.99) and second (aOR 0.72, 95% CI 0.52-0.99) lockdown periods, and not for emergency cesarean section. No change during lockdown was observed in induction of labor. Our results also suggested a reduction in the overall preterm birth rate during the first lockdown (aOR 0.69, 95% CI 0.49-0.97) and in the months immediately following the lockdown (June-September) (aOR 0.67, 95% CI 0.49-0.89). The reduction during the first lockdown was mainly evident for medically indicated preterm birth (although not statistically significant) and the reduction during June-September was mainly evident for spontaneous preterm birth. Conclusions: This study suggested a reduction in elective cesarean section during COVID-19 lockdown, possibly reflecting changes in prioritization of non-urgent health care during lockdown. ...

Publisher's version (útgefin grein) ; Horses are the most common grave goods found in Icelandic Viking Age graves. Horse skeletons have previously been sexed based on pelvis shape and the presence of canine teeth in male horses over 4–5 years of age. Morphological data has shown that all horses from Icelandic burials that were amenable to sexing were male. Yet the use of morphological methods to determine sex is problematic since they rely on finding a well-preserved pelvis and/or robust canine teeth. Furthermore, quantitative data underlying the features of the horse pelvis used for sexing is lacking and canine teeth have been reported to occur in mares. In this study we build upon and extend recently developed methodologies to make use of shotgun sequencing of ancient DNA (aDNA) for molecular sexing of Viking Age horse remains. With minimal sequencing effort we identified the sex of the largest collection (n = 22) of Viking Age Icelandic horses studied to date, sourced from both burial (n = 19) and non-burial (n = 3) sites. Our results revealed a male to female sex bias ratio of 18:1 in burial sites, versus 0:3 in non-burial sites. These findings support the significant over-representation of male horses in Viking Age graves in Iceland, yet show that –albeit rare– mares could also be selected for ritual burial in Viking Age Iceland. This cost-effective method provides statistical confidence to allow for sexing of highly fragmented archaeological specimens with low endogenous DNA content. ; This work was funded by the Research Council of Norway project 230821/F20 and the Icelandic Research Fund project 162783051. LO received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 681605). ; Peer Reviewed

AbstractAs COVID‐19 cases and deaths mounted globally in the spring of 2020, the news media presented a narrative that women heads of government were more successful at handling the pandemic, sparking a scholarly debate. We take an in‐depth look at two of the headline women‐led cases (New Zealand and Iceland) to identify critical junctures and crucial actors in the policy‐making process. Our research questions are as follows: What main factors comprised the executive decision‐making process and approach to COVID‐19 management in New Zealand and Iceland, and to what extent do these factors intersect with prevailing gender stereotypes of feminine leadership? We conducted elite interviews with senior politicians and civil servants in New Zealand and Iceland and found that consensus‐oriented governance, honest and frequent communication with the public, agile and adaptive institutions, deference to scientific advice, collective and decisive action, and policies guided by empathy and humility have proved critical in these cases, and that many of these factors are associated with stereotypically feminine leadership traits.Related ArticlesJalalzai, Farida. 2006. "Women Candidates and the Media: 1992‐2000 Elections." Politics & Policy 34(3): 606–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2006.00030.x.Malmberg, Fredrik G., and Henrik Serup Christensen. 2021. "Voting Women, Protesting Men: A Multilevel Analysis of Corruption, Gender, and Political Participation." Politics & Policy 49(1): 126–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12393.Martin, James Richard. 2018. "Consensus Builders? The Influence of Female Cabinet Ministers on the Duration of Parliamentary Governments." Politics & Policy 46(4): 630–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12266.

This report provides a general overview of the ways in which EU gender equality law has been implemented in the domestic laws of the 27 Member States of the European Union, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (the EEA countries), the United Kingdom and five candidate countries (Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). The analysis is based on the country reports written by the gender equality law experts of the European equality law network (EELN). At the same time, the report explains the most important elements of the EU gender equality acquis. The term 'EU gender equality acquis' refers to all the relevant EU Treaty and EU Charter of Fundamental Rights provisions, legislation and case law of the CJEU in relation to gender equality.

This report provides a general overview of the ways in which EU gender equality law has been implemented in the domestic laws of the 27 Member States of the European Union, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (the EEA countries), the United Kingdom and five candidate countries (Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). The analysis is based on the country reports written by the gender equality law experts of the European equality law network (EELN). At the same time, the report explains the most important elements of the EU gender equality acquis. The term 'EU gender equality acquis' refers to all the relevant EU Treaty and EU Charter of Fundamental Rights provisions, legislation and case law of the CJEU in relation to gender equality.