Open Journal Systems Trinity College Dublin
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Gender Gaps in Time Use: Pan-European Evidence from School Closures during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Full text linkWe study the impact of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic on individual-level time use. We use panel data from 27 EU countries beyond the initial lockdown period and isolate the impact of school closures by comparing parents and non-parents. We find no evidence of a gendered impact of school closures. Women and men reduced the time spent on paid work and increased the amount of time spent on household chores and leisure in approximately equal amounts. These findings do not align with the common concern that school closures widened gender gaps in paid or unpaid work
Defining the Role of Th17 Lineage Cells in People with COVID-19
Full text linkCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic disease which has created a serious public health threat worldwide and causes pneumonia due to infection of the host with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). There remains a key gap in the understanding of what decides the outcome between an appropriate immune response and immunopathology in COVID-19. Th17 lineage cells are a distinct population of CD4+ T helper cells which mediate protection against bacteria and fungi. Th17 cells are dysregulated in patients with severe COVID-19 and are significant contributors to the systemic cytokine storm experienced by critical patients. Th17 cells have been described to mediate damage in the lungs of COVID-19 patients by encouraging the recruitment of neutrophils, contributing to acute respiratory distress syndrome and cytokine storms, causing pulmonary fibrosis, disrupting normal alveolar architecture and oxygenation processes and ultimately leading to systemic organ damage and death. Th17 cells have also been reported to contribute to immune dysfunction in conditions associated with increased risk of disease severity in COVID-19. There is a gap in our knowledge surrounding Th17-mediated protective immunity versus aberrant uncontrolled Th17-mediated pathology in the lung. This review aims to investigate and define the mechanisms of Th17 cells in COVID-19 pathogenesis by comparing the features of Th17 cells in a healthy immune response of the lung with the severe disease state in critical COVID-19
Teaching the Un-teachable? Developing Capabilities in Opportunity Identification through Entrepreneurship Education and Training: A Systematic Literature Review and research agenda
Full text linkThe global growth in entrepreneurship education and training programmes (EET) has spawned an associated boom in academic scholarship assessing the merits of such interventions. This systematic literature review is the first to synthesise the growing number of empirical studies that consider the impact of EET on opportunity identification capabilities (OIC). In doing so, it reviews the extent to which EET has been observed to support entrepreneurial ideation, before elucidating on the mechanisms and boundary conditions surrounding how such an effect is transmitted. Amongst recommendations for future research, it highlights the need for greater empirical rigour, calls for more empirical studies to measure the impact from training specific cognitive techniques, and urges more attention to be focused on the boundary conditions of ‘who’ is most suited to attend these programmes and ‘how’ they are best delivered
The Effect of Parental Self-Employment on Entry Age
Full text linkAn established result of empirical entrepreneurship literature is that parental self-employment has a positive effect on entrepreneurial entry. Far less is known about the parental effect on the important strategic decision about time of entry. This is surprising since the mechanisms behind the parental entrepreneurship effect are similar to those behind the relationship between market entry and a person’s age at entry. We find that parental self-employment is associated with a lower age at entry. We also discuss implications of this pattern for the size of start-up and post-entry development. Our evidence is based on a sample of entrepreneurs from two developing countries namely Ghana and Kenya. Our findings are particularly important for developing countries since mostly weak institutional framework conditions provide only few opportunities for acquiring out-of-family entrepreneurship education and training
Ever decreasing circles: how changing global music industry strategies impact film composers working in audiovisual industries in Ireland
Full text linkThis article examines the unfolding relationship between ‘global’ music labels and the ‘local’ audio-visual sector in the context of a changing music industry landscape. In recent years, major transnational music labels have increasingly pursued activities in local audiovisual production spaces. This reflects the evolving form and nature of these companies as they find new and more diverse ways to generate revenue and maximise their returns on the recording and music publishing rights and brands under their control. These labels have been adapting to the challenges and opportunities afforded by a rapidly evolving digital context, and, as such, have been redirecting resources to develop new, or intensify existing interests in areas beyond the direct sale or licensing of music to consumers and platforms. In this article, we are interested in a number of key developments that hold specific implications for the ‘local’ audiovisual domain. These relate to the approach taken by these labels to synchronisation rights, as well as their involvement in delivering production music libraries and bespoke composition to film, television and advertising production. The nature of the developments outlined below illustrates how recording and music publishing companies have evolved closer relationships with local audiovisual producers. While blanket music licensing agreements provide small, independent film and television production companies with access to song catalogues and music libraries that would once have been beyond their budgetary limits, the nature of such licensing arrangements carries potentially harmful implications for local film composers and those involved in (music) post-production.
The Systematic Effects of the Research Impact Agenda: Qualitative Evidence from the Irish Research Sector
Full text linkResearch centres are non-academic, publicly funded R&D organisations that are not part of academia or the private sector. They play an important role across national innovation systems yet what they do is, to a large extent, undocumented and misunderstood. This study addresses the current gap in the literature by analysing the influence and implications of the research impact agenda on the research centre sector in Ireland. Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with selected leaders from publicly funded research centres and funding agencies in Ireland. Exploratory interviews were transcribed, and thematic analysis was conducted to identify underlying themes. The findings suggest that this agenda has already had significant implications across the Irish research centre sector. Current conceptualisations adopt a narrow view of research impacts, based predominantly on demonstrating economic impacts, which threatens academic autonomy, rewards instrumental research, and may contribute to a ‘sensationalist’ approach to evidencing impacts
The Intra-Household Distribution of Administrative Burdens
Full text linkThere is little research on the gender distribution of administrative burdens in the household, and on its potential contribution to gender inequality. I use original survey data from 1,176 cohabiting UK adults to document gender differences in administrative burdens, focusing on time-use, well-being, and self-assessed responsibility for tasks across ten policy domains (e.g. health, tax and childcare). While there is no gender difference in total administrative time-use, there are differences in time-use and responsibility for specific domains, especially care work and finances. Being the primary earner does not fully explain this. Women report lower well-being during all tasks except childcare; their greater subjective time pressure partly explains this gap
Comparing Housing Market Dynamics in the Irish and UK Residential Markets
Full text linkGiven the sharp and persistent increase in both house prices and rents, the need to increase housing supply in the Irish market has become increasingly pressing over the last number of years. While a number of Government policy initiatives have been introduced, it is clear that actual levels of housing supply are still somewhat below the level of demand, with official Government targets suggesting a significant difference between the two. Given the difficulties experienced by the supply side of the domestic housing market, it is informative and interesting to contrast housing supply in the Irish market with that of Ireland’s nearest housing markets; in particular, the Northern Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh markets. These markets share many of the characteristics of the Irish market in terms of planning and regulatory regimes as well as cultural preferences for certain property types compared with continental housing markets. In this paper we, therefore, build on previous work by Egan and McQuinn (2023a) to assess the relationship between house prices and supply levels across the different Irish and UK markets. This serves as an important benchmark by which to evaluate the performance of the supply side of the Irish residential market
Equity Crowdfunding as a Source of Finance for Early-Stage Cleantech Firms: Exploring the role of patents
Full text linkThis study investigates whether European Cleantech firms with patents attract more equity crowdfunding than those without patents. We find that firms with patents indeed raise significantly more funding in crowdfunding campaigns. We also find, inter alia, that two measures of innovation —firms’ intangible asset values and the number of patents pending— increase after a successful (in terms of amount raised) crowdfunding campaign. Firms with patents granted have more debt finance than firms with patents pending. A key determinant of the amount of crowdfunding raised is the number of patents pending, suggesting that equity investors are keen to invest on the promise of success. We also find that debt finance has a significant impact on the development of intangible assets, which indicates the role of capitalized intangible assets and patents to secure debt. Our findings suggest support for signaling theory, as patents reduce information asymmetries and act as a signal for equity crowdfunding investors
Flows In and Out of Self-Employment
Full text linkThe establishment and growth of new businesses are key ingredients for economic growth and job creation across economies. As such, a key objective for policymakers is targeting institutional and policy objectives that encourage entrepreneurship. Importantly, the literature on entrepreneurship distinguishes between types of entrepreneurs and their drivers; namely those motivated by ‘necessity’ or ‘opportunity’. A key differentiating characteristic is how each are correlated with broader economic cycles, i.e. necessity entrepreneurship is more likely to occur as other options for employment diminish rather than expand. To examine this in an Irish context, this research uses employment status information from the Labour Force Survey to examine the characteristics of the self-employed and the extent to which the determinants of becoming self-employed changed against the background of dramatic changes in economic conditions