Open Journal Systems Trinity College Dublin
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Modelling the Medium- to Long-Term Potential Macroeconomic Impact of Brexit on Ireland
Get PDFThere is almost a complete consensus in the international literature that Brexit will have a negative effect on the UK economy both in the short and long run. The UK is one of Ireland’s closest economic partners and little is known about the potential macroeconomic impact that Brexit could have on the Irish economy. In this paper, we use the new COre Structural MOdel of the Irish economy (COSMO) to attempt to quantify the medium- to long-run impact of Brexit on the Irish economy under a series of alternative scenarios. These scenarios are intended to cover a range of potential agreements between the UK and the EU. We find that the level of Irish output is permanently below what it otherwise would have been in the absence of Brexit
Supporting Pension Contributions Through the Tax System: Outcomes, Costs and Examining Reform
Get PDFUsing the taxation system as a means of supporting contributions to pensions is a long standing and increasingly important policy tool. This paper examines the effectiveness of that tool using new data for Ireland in 2014. Looking at contributions from employees, employers and individuals into private pensions, we show the relatively small size of most pension contributions and highlight the challenges these imply for the adequacy of future pension income. Distributively, our results demonstrate a concentration of supports among those on the highest earnings and on the highest incomes and raise questions regarding the more efficient use of these resources
Communities of Musical Practice (Ailbhe Kenny: Routledge, 2016)
Get PDFA review of Communities of Musical Practice by Ailbhe Kenny, which explores ‘situated’ collaborative music-making practices on the ground in Ireland.
Communities of Musical Practice by Ailbhe Kenny provides an in-depth and invaluable insight into ‘situated’ collaborative music-making practices on the ground in Ireland. The central research question – ‘how are ‘communities of musical practice’ developed and sustained in practice?’ (p. 1) – is addressed through qualitative case study research in Ireland’s mid-west region and situated within a broader sociocultural theoretical and contextual framework concerning music education. The author analyses and interprets complex practices using a Community of Musical Practice (CoMP) framework, adapted from Lave and Wenger’s Community of Practice (CoP) model, in addition to drawing on the sociocultural theoretical perspectives of Bourdieu, Becker and de Certeau
The Great Reimagining: Public Art, Urban Space and the Symbolic Landscapes of a ‘New’ Northern Ireland (Bree T. Hocking: Berghahn, 2015)
Get PDFA review of The Great Reimagining: Public Art, Urban Space and the Symbolic Landscapes of a ‘New’ Northern Ireland is written by Bree T. Hocking.
The Great Reimagining: Public Art, Urban Space and the Symbolic Landscapes of a ‘New’ Northern Ireland is written by Bree T. Hocking, a Research Associate at the Open University with a background in exploring the intersection of art, spatial politics and society. This book critically investigates the global and local processes shaping public spaces in the two largest cities of ‘post-conflict’ Northern Ireland: Belfast and Derry. A particular emphasis is placed on interrogating selected state-financed public art commissions, questioning their intended impact, the sometimes contested and unforeseen community responses, and the insights derived as to the vision of citizenship the State is seeking to engender in the ‘new symbolic landscapes’ of Northern Ireland (p. 4). In essence, the study explores the dissonance and contradictions that typically manifest in the spatial restructuring of urban space, particularly where public art is mobilised by policymakers and funding bodies as a means of promoting local reconciliation and shared space while simultaneously calibrated to attract global investment capital and ‘consumer-tourists’. To this end, the author posits a conceptual framework for the analysis of official discourses shaping such ‘transitional space’ and asserts its wider applicability to other post-conflict and post-industrial societies
Understanding Irish Labour Force Participation
Get PDFThis paper explores developments in the labour force participation rate in Ireland. Given the important role of labour supply in explaining Irish economic growth, we aim to identify the relative influence of structural and cyclical factors in the recent dynamics of Irish labour force participation. Using a number of empirical approaches our results highlight the role of age, nationality and gender on the participation rate. We also find that the recent decline in female participation is entirely a response to the stage in the economic cycle given the weaker labour market, whereas the fall in male and overall participation also reflects the influence of some structural factors. Accordingly a rise in the participation rate is to be expected in the near term as the economic recovery continues, and current measures of slack in the economy should account for this. Combining our results and various population projection scenarios, we show that policy actions to increase female participation may not in and of themselves yield significant changes in the aggregate trend participation rate over the medium term owing to the stronger influence of the falling male trend. Higher immigration is the most effective way of offsetting the expected decline in trend participation out to 2025
Brendan M. Walsh (1940-2016): The Economist at Work
Get PDFPhysically as well as intellectually, Brendan Walsh (BMW) bestrode the narrow world of Irish economics like a colossus for decades. In part this reflected his calm debating style, and his common-sense ability to synthesise a vast range of knowledge of the Irish economy. But it also reflected the fact that he published consistently and voluminously throughout his career
Life Expectancy in Ireland since the 1870s
Get PDFThis paper reviews the historical evidence on Irish life expectancy. Although much of the material is broadly familiar, attention is drawn to some lesser-known aspects. These include the reliability of the civil registration data and its implications for measuring life expectancy; the variation in the rate of improvement in life expectancy over the sub-periods between 1871 and 2011; and plausible reasons for it. In recent decades as much as three quarters of longevity gains has been attributable to falling age-specific death rates among the elderly. Given that further reductions in mortality rates among the elderly may be increasingly difficult to deliver, the overall gains in life expectancy in the coming decades may not match those recorded during the first half of the twentieth century
An Irish Welcome? Changing Irish Attitudes to Immigrants and Immigration: The Role of Recession and Immigration
Get PDFThis paper investigates attitudes to immigrants in Ireland in the period 2002 to 2012 and the role of economic recession, the increase in immigration, and respondents’ level of education on understanding changing attitudes. Attitudes to immigrants in Ireland became more negative as unemployment rose, but once we account for this, a higher proportion of immigrants was associated with more positive attitudes. Highly educated respondents (with third-level qualifications) report more favourable attitudes to immigrants than those with lower education. The attitudes of those with lower education were more responsive to economic conditions, meaning the gap in attitudes between high and low educated widened in recession
How Sensitive is Irish Income Tax Revenue to Underlying Economic Activity?
Get PDFIn this paper we examine the elasticity of Irish personal income taxation revenue with respect to aggregate national output – both GDP and GNP. This enables us to estimate the sensitivity of this key taxation aggregate with respect to changes in economic activity. Understanding the elasticity of the different taxation components vis-à-vis their underlying economic activity should enable policymakers to place the public finances on a more sustainable footing and hence avoid the sharp booms and busts that have characterised Irish taxation receipts over the past 20 years
Gender Equality in the Irish Labour Market 1966-2016: Unfinished Business?
Get PDFThis paper formed part of the conference to mark 50 years of social research at the ESRI. It provides an overview of gender equality in the labour market in Ireland over a 50-year period. It takes as its starting point two studies published by ESRI researchers in the early 1970s including a survey of women carried out in 1973. Five themes are identified in these early studies, which are then carried through to the current period. These are: patterns of female labour force participation; gender segregation; sectoral labour demand; attitudes; and appropriate policy responses. The study then outlines how many of the normative, legislative and institutional constraints to women’s employment were removed during the following decades and discusses key educational and fertility trends that influenced labour force participation. Policy responses have also shifted over the period. We find that while there has been distinct change in the normative culture, a major upward shift in the scale of female employment, and a decline in gender segregation, women’s and men’s employment remains strongly gendered