Open Journal Systems Trinity College Dublin
Not a member yet
823 research outputs found
Sort by
Changes in Irish Households\u27 Finances from 2013 to 2018: Evidence from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey
No full textThis paper uses data between 1987 and 2018 from three wealth surveys in Ireland to identify factors driving wealth dynamics in the short and long run. We show that ownership of housing is crucial. Changes in asset prices and mortgage debt also play a role. Inequality rose between 1987 and 2018 due to higher leverage for households in the middle of the wealth distribution and falling homeownership. Increased ownership of financial assets and businesses for wealthier households are also important. Between 2013 and 2018 rising house prices increased wealth particularly for households in negative equity after the financial crisis, contributing to falls in inequality in this period. Household leverage ratios declined substantially up to 2018. On the eve of the COVID-19 crisis households were more financially resilient when compared to their position a decade before at the onset of the financial crisis
New Survey Evidence on COVID-19 and Irish SMEs: Measuring the Impact and Policy Response
Get PDFIn this paper, we use new survey data on the Irish SME population to trace out the impact of the pandemic on revenues, firms’ capacity to adjust their cost base and their usage of policy supports. Over 70 per cent of firms experienced some fall in turnover with a median fall of 25 per cent. The impact of the shock appears uncorrelated with past firm performance which highlights its exogenous nature. Expenditure fell by 8.5 per cent on average with 40 per cent of firms cutting spending. Losses were incurred in over 30 per cent of enterprises with a further 30 per cent just breaking even. We find that about 61 per cent of SMEs received wage subsidies, 20 per cent of firms used tax warehousing while fewer than 6 per cent of firms used lending initiatives. Policy support take-up is more likely among those more affected by the downturn, while the smallest firms appear less likely to use support than larger firms
Rachel Dardis: An Appreciation
Get PDFThis note outlines the main achievements of Professor Rachel Dardis, an Irish-born economist who died in February 2021
Does Household Worklessness Explain Ireland’s High Working-Age Market Income Inequality?
Get PDFIreland has a particularly high level of inequality in incomes from the market, before redistribution by transfers and direct taxes, and also a very high level of household joblessness. How much does the latter serve to explain the former? We assess this by comparing Ireland in depth with five comparator countries: France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Decomposition of the Gini coefficient by income source shows the dominant role played by income from labour in market income inequality in all these countries. Decomposition of Generalised Entropy measures and counterfactual shift-share exercises based on them show that Ireland’s high proportion of working-age households with no earner is indeed an important contributor to its ranking in terms of market income inequality. However, relatively high levels of dispersion in earnings within one-earner and two-earner households also contribute and their drivers need to be better understood
Gender Quotas and Female Political Representation in the Republic of Ireland
Get PDFIn 2012, the Irish Government introduced gender quotas into the lower house of parliament – the Dáil – in order to address the acute problem of female political underrepresentation. This paper examines the effectiveness of this measure. It finds that gender quotas in Ireland have been particularly successful in eroding the masculinised political culture in Irish politics. In terms of an increased focus on women’s issues, it is at present too soon to ascertain the effects of the new gender balance in the Dáil. However, taking erosion of masculine cultural legacies as an end in itself, as well as a means to other ends, it is submitted that gender quotas are having a positive impact on Irish policies and should be complemented by other mechanisms in order to achieve the goal of gender equal political representation
Sexual Consent in The Irish Legal System: Sex Scripts in Irish Law
Get PDFThe aim of the present report is to provide a broad knowledge of the current policy in Ireland. The laws regarding sexual assault and rape will be outlined. Further, the connection between these laws and sex script theory will be analysed. Sex script theory proposes that individuals develop standardised behaviours during sexual interactions based on social norms (Beres, Herold & Maitland, 2004). For example, a common sex script is that in a heterosexual interaction the man should actively encourage sex whereas the woman should deny sex (Byers, 1996). The connection between sex script and Irish policy indicate that stereotypical beliefs may influence written Irish policy and affect legal decisions of cases of sexual crimes. This finding has implications for potential changes to the Irish legal system
Why #MeToo Failed in Japan
Get PDFFarnush Ghadery of King’s College London argues that the #MeToo movement is a “...transnational feminist consciousness- raising endeavour [...] that surpasses the universalising and Western hegemonic language exhibited by global feminism” (Ghadery 2019, p. 254). Its success varied, however, from country to country. In the following essay, it is put forward that the failure of the #MeToo movement in Japan can be attributed to two main factors: an unprepared socio-historical climate and an incompatible cultural setting. Neil Stammers’ instrumental and expressive dimension framework, Research Mobilisation Theory and Political Process Theory are used to analyse the process and outcome
Whose Streets? Exploring the Political Pertinence of Public Space for Feminist Resistance to Neoliberalism
Get PDFThis essay traces the effects of neoliberalism as a distinct form of rationality across political institutions, social infrastructure and discursive spaces. Through examining the conscription of second-wave feminist discourses into the neoliberal project, the essay explores the importance of an agonistic feminist politics for contemporary democratic thinking. By drawing upon the work of key post-Marxist and anti-essentialist feminist thinkers, the essay engages critically with recent social movements that use public space as a site of political resistance. The essay explores the centrality of interdependency and plurality for feminist politics committed to resisting neoliberalism and to reinvigorating our political and social imaginaries
Becoming Dusty: The purpose of self-transformation in an era of repression
Get PDFThroughout the 1960s, self-transformation allowed the closeted aspect of Dusty Springfield’s persona to not only be an outlet; but an identity. Springfield created a queer persona during an age where lesbianism, lacking the criminal status and culminative glamour of male homosexuality, remained less visible and understood. This essay focuses on the tools that Springfield used to express her marginality and how she made her ‘transgressive’ identity apparent to certain audiences. Springfield subverted fixed ideas of identity by incorporating tactics of camp, drag, diva status, and musical genre into her presentation and identity. These actions reinforced her status as a ‘camp icon,’ providing catharses for both herself and her queer audience. Springfield’s re-fashioning of self exposes gender and sexuality as cultural codes which rely on imitation, lacking any essential truth
Sylvia Scarlett: A Pivotal Moment for Queer Representation in Hollywood
Get PDFThis paper explores the significance of Sylvia Scarlett (1935) as a representation of queer women in Produc- tion Code cinema. It argues that two pre-code films, Morocco (1930) and Queen Christina (1933), set a precedent for the high level of queerness displayed in Sylvia Scarlett despite the strict Production Code censorship which prohibited what it termed ‘sex perversion’. This too, marked an end to the joyful expressions of queer- ness in Production Code film, as shown by the ways in which queer women were subsequently depicted until the MPAA rating system was instituted in 1968. Sylvia Scarlett was a pivotal moment for queer representation in Hollywood, building upon the steps taken in films released under an initially loose version of the Production Code. It espouses a fluid approach to gender and sexuality, celebrating its unconventional protagonist, whereas queer-coded characters in Production Code films thereafter carried immoral connotations and were often punished for their queerness