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The Influence of Family Structure on Child Outcomes: Evidence for Ireland
Get PDFA large body of international literature has documented a correlation between nontraditional family structure and poorer child outcomes, yet researchers continue to disagree as to whether the association represents a true causal effect. This article extends this literature by employing propensity score matching using the first wave of data from the Growing up in Ireland child cohort study. We argue that the Irish case is of particular interest given the highly selective nature of non-marriage. We find that, on average, non-marriage has negative effects on a child educational development at age 9 but the effects are smaller in relation to health outcomes and the child’s self-concept. However, selection effects account for a non-trivial proportion of the differences in child outcomes across lone-mother and cohabiting families although hidden bias remains an important issue. This has important implications for policies which promote marriage as the key to child development as it appears that much of the benefits of marriage are not related to marriage per se but to the socio-economic background of mothers
Telework Isn’t Working: A Policy Review
Get PDFTowards the latter end of the last decade there was growing recognition that Ireland’s transport and mobility patterns were unsustainable in the context of their economic, social and environmental impacts and consequences. The State had been spatially transformed during the “Celtic Tiger” era with (sub)urban sprawl, fuelled by Ireland’s chronic car dependency, a feature of everyday life. Commuting to and from work increased noise and air pollution, traffic congestion and contributed considerably to carbon emissions augmenting globally negative anthropogenic climate change. In an apparent shift in transport policy, the government published Smarter Travel in 2007 where more environmentally sustainable modes of transport, such as walking, cycling and public transport, were encouraged to combat the country’s unusually high levels of car dependency. An essential feature of the Smarter Travel initiative was telework (e-Working). Working from home has the potential to reduce, or eliminate, the daily commute to and from work and was regarded by policymakers as a crucial element in reducing Ireland’s unsustainable patterns of mobility whilst continuing the pursuit of unhindered economic growth. However, telework remains marginalised in business terms and lacks the regulation and guidelines essential to legitimise it for employers and employees that wish to work from home. A neo-liberal approach to the practice adopted by policymakers is evident and in the absence of legislation employers retain sole discretionary decision making powers over telework schemes and home working conditions. Indeed, many key decision makers fail to appreciate or recognise the potential benefits that may accrue from telework, which is leading to ad hoc and disorganised arrangements to the detriment of this method of working. Telework appears destined to fail even before it has been given a chance to shine as an economic, social and environmental tool of sustainability
Transient Places: The Public Benefits of Short-Term Artist-Led Spaces
Get PDFThis paper explores the role of transient artist-led spaces in Ireland, and looks to discern whether shorter-term initiatives may become a strong model for sustaining artist-led activity in Ireland. It focuses on identity of local places for individuals and societies, and the role that artist-led initiatives have in altering this identity
Minority Status, Social Welfare Status and their Association with Child Participation in Sporting, Cultural and Community Activities
Get PDFParticipation in sporting, cultural and community activities can have significant emotional, physical and social benefits for children. A small literature now exists exploring the factors that promote or inhibit children’s participation in these activities. This paper adds to the literature using a large child-based dataset collected in Ireland, the Growing Up in Ireland dataset. The paper investigates the role of minority status as a barrier to child participation in a range of activities. Minority status in this paper is characterised as being non-Irish born, non-Roman Catholic, or having a family member in receipt of some form of social welfare. The association between such characteristics and child participation in sporting, cultural and community activities is examined using multivariate analyses. The results highlight that these factors are associated with lower participation in structured activities though the impact varies according to activity and minority grouping. The implications of the findings for policy are discussed
Ireland’s Banking System – Looking Forward
Get PDFThis paper discusses the medium- to long-term perspectives for the Irish banking system. Consistent with the finance-growth literature, financial deepening had a limited impact on growth in Ireland before the crisis and cannot be expected to contribute significantly over the short to medium term. The paper documents that, compared to its benchmark, the Irish banking system is still very unbalanced, with a heavy reliance on international funding, and limited competition. Given its membership in the Eurozone and the EU, Ireland depends very much on global and European regulatory reform trends, some of which are more important for Ireland than other European economies. Critically, the shape and resilience of Irish banking will depend on the shape the Eurozone banking union will take
The Value of Water: Economics of Water for a Sustainable Use
Get PDFThe following work deals with a very controversial but nevertheless very important topic in the sustainable management of water as a natural resource: the value of water and the macroeconomics of water. Population growth, increasing demand, climate change and declining water supplies present a short- and medium-term outlook where water stress and shortages may keep arising. Water stress is a situation that arises “… when water demand is more important than the amount available for a specified period or when it is restricted by its low quality.” This in turn “… causes deterioration of resources fresh water in terms of quantity (aquifer overexploited, dry rivers, etc.) and quality (eutrophication, organic matter pollution, saline intrusion, etc.).” (UNEP, 2012) If global patterns continue, we can see that we are headed into an increasingly complex landscape where water mismanagement increasingly compromises water availability. Added to this we have the phenomenon of climate change, which is already having an impact on water systems and cycles globally. This is why we must change the ethnocentric approach of our current development model, where resources are exploited without regard for the future. This analysis will use another approach based on sustainable development, and will go beyond ideological approaches and economic or political agendas, to treat water management and the macroeconomics of water pragmatically. Life on the planet depends on our success to manage our water resources in an efficient, responsible and fair manner; this paper provides the general guidelines and practical recommendations to do so
Income and Wealth in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing
Get PDFBetween 2009 and 2011, data were collected under the first wave of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Over 8,500 people aged 50 and over and living in Ireland were interviewed about a wide range of topics covering socio-economic and health issues. Our primary goals in this paper are to present details on two of the variables which will be of particular interest to economists, namely income and wealth, and to discuss issues in relation to their use. We describe how the income and wealth data were collected. We assess the quality of the income data by comparing them to those obtained through the European Union Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). We examine the joint distribution of income and assets and conduct a small exercise on using the data to design a means-testing system
The Risks of Intuition: Size, Costs and Economies of Scale in Local Government
Get PDFExtensive international research surrounds the optimal size of local government and associated issues of amalgamations and economies of scale in local government. Given recent structural reforms of Irish local government, this paper examines both the theoretical debates on these issues and the international experience with local authority mergers in several countries, highlighting the rationale for and some of the reported effects of mergers. It also assesses the relationship between size and expenditure/service levels in Irish local government, drawing on available data. Contrary perhaps to popular belief, county and city councils, the primary units of local government in Ireland, are already very large by international standards. Overall, the research suggests a weak link between size and costs, and that local authority mergers may have limited intrinsic efficiency value and can involve considerable transitional costs. Most local authority services appear to possess limited economies of scale, the main exceptions being specialised services, the production costs of capital-intensive services, and some administrative overheads and “back office” functions
Testing the Permanent Income Hypothesis for Irish Households, 1994 to 2005
Get PDFThe Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH) states that consumption should depend on long-term income expectations and not on temporary swings in income. This paper uses Irish household data from three Household Budget Surveys between 1994 and 2005 to test the PIH. Households that fail to consume their permanent income may do so because they have no access to credit or because they save, be it for a rainy day, a purchase, bequests, or simply because saving conditions are attractive. We find some evidence for credit constraints, for instance for mortgage households in arrears in the mid-1990s. Furthermore, mortgage households during the housing boom consistently consumed less than predicted by their permanent income, which may be related to planned house purchases or the Special Savings Incentive Account scheme
How Have Contracts for Difference Affected Irish Equity Market Volatility?
Get PDFContracts for Difference (CFDs) have existed for less than twenty years and the market has grown significantly up to the period before the recent international crises. This paper presents an analysis of how CFDs have affected equity market volatility in Ireland. EGARCH models are used to uncover volatility changes in the periods before and after the introduction of the new trading product in Ireland. We find that CFDs appear to have lowered asset-specific volatility across the majority of equities traded on the Irish Stock Exchange. These findings do not correspond to the expected volatility increase associated with leveraged products that are closely associated with high frequency trading. Our empirical analysis suggests that CFDs are having an alternative volatility reducing effect through the presence of bid and ask price “overhangs” that are generated through the hedging practices of CFD brokers. A fully worked example of the development of an “overhang” is provided