Cynthetiq

As you stated they can be traded and sold off to corporations, so there is a dollar figure associated to it. Each individual has a claim to a certain amount of fish. It is these that are bartered and traded. I'm sorry if I'm confusing the ideas of "claim" and "stock" since the "stock" is the actual inventory of fish that is depleted and not replenished. Each Icelander has a birth right claim to an amount of fish. Since this commodity can be bought and sold, is regenerating each year, it gives a "bigger" value to the individual on top of the normal taxation revenues such as sales and income.

Again, this information is anecdotal from my outside conversations and "studies" I have yet to corroborate this information with treaties and laws.

So each individual has a contribution to the social system even if they are disabled, elderly, young and not working.

another note for the Icelander observations:

Icelanders aren't filling in the jobs that are required for their base industries. Fish factories are increasingly relying on outside labor (something you are studying as well ). Aluminum smelting factories are faced with the same issues.

From one of the studies I read, Icelandic teens interviewed stated they were not interested in working in either sector, that alone is problematic and will require outside the labor pool.

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