Participation, expenditure and regressivity in the Irish lottery: evidence from Irish household budget survey 2004-05

This paper estimates, using the most recent Irish Household Budget Survey of 2004/2005, a double hurdle model to determine the socio-economic and socio-demographic factors affecting participation and expenditure of Irish households on the national lottery. Of particular interest is the effect of income on the decisions of how much participants spend on the lottery. The paper also determines the extent to which the tax inherent in lottery purchases is regressive in its incidence on purchasers. It is found that gender, social class, marital status, the presence of children in the home and household size significantly effects lottery participation.  Lottery expenditures are affected by income, location of the household, gender, age, education, social class and whether the household has positive betting expenditures. Furthermore, there is evidence that the implicit lottery tax is regressive and that the allocation of lottery proceeds does not compensate for this regressivity

Product and service innovation and discontinuation in manufacturing and service firms in Europe

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore product/service innovation and discontinuation using the firm as a unit of analysis. A key objective of the paper is to compare the results between manufacturing and service firms. Design/methodology/approach: A two-step production function approach is employed to examine first, a firm’s decision to innovate and second, a firm’s decision to discontinue products/services. Findings: The results indicate that the factors affecting product innovation and discontinuation are similar for manufacturing and service firms, where innovation was significant for product/service discontinuation and process innovation was found to be important for innovations. Similarly, monopoly power was important for innovation in both industry types. However, there were also some underlying differences, particularly in relation to firm age and economic geography effects. Practical implications: The conclusion of the paper is that it is not appropriate to assume that the process of product innovation and discontinuation will be identical across industry types. Originality/value: This study is the first study in the literature that examines product/service discontinuation at the firm level and the relationship between innovation and product/service discontinuation using the firm as a unit of analysis. This study further adds to the under-researched (relative to manufacturing studies) area of service innovation

Empirical explorations of firm innovation, government intervention and firm performance in European countries

Empirische verkenningen van bedrijfsinnovatie, overheidsinterventie en bedrijfsprestaties in Europese landen De algemene doelstellingen van het onderzoek in dit proefschrift zijn: ten eerste het analyseren van het innovatieproces bij verschillende soorten innovatie, waarbij het bedrijf wordt gebruikt als analyse-eenheid; ten tweede het onderzoeken van de relatie tussen bedrijfsinnovatie en productiviteit; en ten derde het onderzoeken van de relatie tussen overheidsinterventie en bedrijfsprestaties in Europa. De voornaamste bevindingen zijn dat de innovatie-inspanningen, de kapitaalintensiteit, de grootte, de locatie en het ondernemingsklimaat voor bedrijven in Ierland belangrijke variabelen zijn voor innovatie; dat er wat betreft Ierland een economisch-geografisch effect is dat het stedelijke-hiërarchiemodel ondersteunt, waarin verstedelijking belangrijk is voor productinnovatie en minder belangrijk is voor procesinnovaties; dat innovatie een positief effect heeft op de mate van productiviteit van bedrijven, ongeacht de soort innovatie (product/proces) en economie (innovatie-/transitiegedreven economieën) in Europese bedrijven; dat er factoren zijn die pleiten voor beleidsinterventie in Europa ten aanzien van niet-innoverende bedrijven, afhankelijk van waar de tijdelijke heterogeniteitseffecten het grootst zijn; dat subsidies in Ierland en in innovatiegerichte economieën belangrijk zijn voor bedrijven die innoveren, maar niet voor bedrijven in een overgangseconomie; dat het in evenwicht houden van regionale groei zowel in innovatie- als in transitiegerichte economieën een belangrijke reden voor overheidsinterventie is; en dat overheidsingrijpen in innovatiegerichte economieën en transitiegerichte economieën een positief effect heeft op de productiviteit van een bedrijf, maar als beleidsmakers marktrendement willen optimaliseren ten opzichte van de productiviteit van bedrijven, ze er meestal voor kiezen om te interveniëren in de ‘verkeerde’ groep bedrijven

The regional dimension of subsidies, innovation and job growth in european firms

The analysis in this chapter reflects on subsidy provision across a sample of European countries from 2005 and assesses the impact of subsidies on the performance outcomes of recipient firms. A key objective of the paper is to explore the regional dimension to identify if firms in rural areas are more likely to receive subsidies and whether performance outcome disparities exist for firms in less urbanized locations. The results of the analysis indicate that subsidies are leading to improvements in firm innovation. The counterfactual analysis indicates that a world without subsidies would result in lower levels of innovation. Subsidized firms are located in less urbanized areas, are larger, foreign, offer training to employees, are better educated, are more high-tech and they export. Regional disparities are evident for subsidized firms that product innovate, however, they are absent for process innovation, pointing to product life cycle regional effects

Firm subsidies in central and eastern Europe and central Asia: Is there urban bias?

Regional disparities exist due to the uneven impact of economic development. The World Bank's World Development Report (2009) advocates that attempts to spread out economic activity will undermine growth. This study finds that policy-makers in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia favour subsidizing firms in less urbanized locations. However, innovation market outcomes would probably be higher if there was an urban bias in subsidy distribution

Which organisational changes are most beneficial for firm innovation?

This paper identifies which types of organisational HRM changes are most beneficial for firm innovation by using a treatment effects analysis and a large dataset of firms from emerging economies. The paper finds that organisational changes have a positive disruptive effect on firm innovation outcomes. However, there is an organisational change hierarchy - where some HRM practices are more important than others. HRM practices that involve engaging with external partners, via collaboration and outsourcing, have the largest effect on innovation outcomes

The influence of the manager on firm innovation in emerging economies

The focus of this paper is on the relatively under-researched area of the influence of management on innovation activities for firms in emerging economies. Many emerging economies adopt a strategy of outward-oriented development with the aim to enhance innovation performance through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and international trade. However, attention should be paid to firm mechanisms, including intangibles, that may enable a firm to benefit from the more tangible performance-enhancing effects. It is through such a lens that we examine firm innovation in emerging economies, focusing on how variations in management experience, management practices and management incentives impact innovation performance. We employ a production function approach to identify the effect of the management environment on innovation diversity for firms in emerging economies. Our diversity of innovation measure takes account of five types of innovation activity, and is indicative of the degree of ‘innovativeness’ that the firm possesses. A Tobit estimation technique is employed. Innovation decisions typically involve managers as filtering mechanisms to consider a range of external and internal factors that enhance the likelihood of innovation outcomes. Our results indicate that management experience, management practices and management incentives are all important in determining innovation activities in firms from emerging economies. Our analysis reveals the importance of the management environment in explaining innovation differences at the level of the firm in emerging economies. Therefore, strategies to empower and support managers in emerging economies should be considered alongside outward-orientated development strategies

The demand for fee-paying secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland

Ireland’s fee-paying schools consistently rank highly in Ireland’s secondary school league tables. Evidence also notes that the alumni of fee-paying schools represent a large proportion of those in leadership positions in business, politics and the legal professions. This paper examines the factors that affect the decision of Irish households to enrol their children in fee-paying secondary schools in Ireland. The paper uses Irish Household Budget Survey data that cover three waves from the period 2004–2016. We examine the head of household’s education, occupation, income, marital status, the location of the household and temporal factors on the school choice decision. The main results indicate that fee-paying students are more likely to come from higher income, better educated and Dublin located households. This research highlights the significant driver that affluence may have in determining secondary school enrolment in Ireland. This self-selected affluent group effect may explain the performance disparities between fee-paying and non-fee-paying schools. The results enlighten any discussion around whether or not the Government should consider a transition to a fee-paying market or eliminate fee-paying schools altogether