The Local Impact of the Marine Sector in Ireland: A Spatial Microsimulation Analysis

The ocean is an important natural resource and offers considerable income and employment opportunity to the Irish economy. The last two decades have seen a realisation that whilst nationally economies may benefit from trade liberalisation, specific regions may not. This has led to the development of local level modelling frameworks. Using a spatial microsimulation model this paper estimates the employment and income contribution of the marine sector at the county, small area and household level. It was found that the marine sector offers higher than average income to employees in coastal locations and thus is an important source of income and employment Ireland.