International constitutionalism and the state : a rejoinder to Vlad Perju.

The transplantation of a legal governance form from one order to another is always fraught with difficulty. Perju’s Reply asks critical questions regarding the characterization of future global governance and most particularly the use of constitutionalism beyond the state presented in my article. Perju argues that an a priori matter, whether constitutionalism is suitable beyond the state, is of critical import. My original article centered upon a “what if” question, what would the impact of an international constitutionalization process be upon the state and whether this would be an advantageous process, what Perju portrays as “the very option” of constitutionalism. The sense of urgency which Perju finds apparent in my article is also perceptible in other recent attempts to offer options for the future of the global legal order. Alongside constitutionalization, other narratives ranging from global legal pluralism to global administrative law form part of a much broader narrative of “what if” questions within international governance debates seeking to consider what exists beyond the classical state consent tropes discussed in the article. This rejoinder focuses upon several questions raised by Perju: transplantation, multiple constitutional orders, and the link between normative and structural constitutionalism.1 First, transplantation and the applicability of constitutionalism, as part of a process of constitutionalization, beyond the state. Walker considers that the opposition to constitutionalism beyond the state relies upon four interrelated categories: inappropriateness, inconceivability, improbability, and illegitimacy.2 Inappropriateness is linked to what Perju states as taking “for granted the existence of an international legal order.” Indeed, the constitutionalization debate and my article assume that a legal order exists beyond the state. Whilst not embracing Peters’s claim that constitutionalization acts as a bulwark against assertions of international law’s limitations as a legitimate legal order nor wishing to dismiss outright those that do question international law’s legitimacy,

Estimating the Rate of Return to Education using Microsimulation

This paper attempts to use microsimulation methods to compare returns to education in four European countries, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom. This paper broadens the type of measure used to measure the return to education to include interactions with public taxtransfer systems and to consider the effect of differential employment rates on education. Mincer style wage equations are estimated for each country in order to model the return to education of gross earnings. These estimates are then incorporated into a microsimulation model to estimate social, private and fiscal returns to education in the countries. Both point estimates and a distribution of the rates of return are described.

The Geographical Spread and the Economic Impact of Food Harvest 2020 – A Regional Perspective.

working paper JEL Codes; Q12 R12 R58Recently the agri-food sector has received increased attention in Ireland. The agri-food sector has been the traditional backbone of Irish exports, and despite the economic downturn Irish exports in this sector grew by an impressive 12 percent in 2011 (CSO 2012). The agri-food sector is regarded as Ireland’s largest indigenous industry, the potential of the sector in terms of exports, and its heavy dependence on domestic inputs are the key reasons for the increased attention. The real economic value of the agri-food sector in Ireland is analysed at national, and most importantly for this paper, at regional level. This paper examines the impact of the agri-food sector in addressing regional disparities in Ireland. The estimation of the true value of the agri-food sector is evaluated at regional level by analysing Gross Value Added, employment levels and productivity rates for the sector expressed in percentage of regional values. Gross-Value-Added in absolute terms and as a percentage of regional Gross-Value- Added provides us with a more thorough understanding of the regional importance of certain industries within the sector. In terms of employment, the rural context of the agri-food sector is discussed, including the geographical spread of the sector. A comparison of regional productivity levels is analysed at national and regional level. In addition, this paper geographically distributes the change in output and employment if the four main sector specific Food Harvest 2020 targets are achieved. As a preliminary contour of the agri-food sector in Ireland this research will be useful to all the key players in the sector

Imputation of Gross Amounts from Net Incomes in Household Surveys. An Application using EUROMOD.

Household micro-datasets often do not contain information on gross incomes. We present an algorithm which exploits the tax- and contribution rules built into tax-benefit models to convert net income information into gross amounts. Using EUROMOD, a multi-country taxbenefit model covering all fifteen countries of the European Union, net-to-gross conversions can be performed for a large number of countries utilising existing models of relevant fiscal rules. The algorithm takes into account all relevant complexities of tax- and contribution rules and can, thus, produce much more accurate results than statistical models which estimate netto- gross ratios using only a few explanatory variables. Among the features of the algorithm is the ability to distinguish between different individuals in the same household. Even if individuals’ incomes are taxed jointly, the algorithm is able to approximate separate net-togross factors for individuals in the same fiscal unit. This is possible since EUROMOD can accurately assign people to appropriate fiscal units. In addition, it is in certain cases possible to produce different net-to-gross ratios for different income components. We undertake a case study to illustrate the importance of deriving separate net-to-gross factors for different individuals within a household/fiscal unit and for different income sources of the same individual.Microsimulation; Imputation; Income; Net/Gross

Procrastination on Long-Term Projects

Previous papers on time-inconsistent procrastination assume projects are completed once begun. We develop a model in which a person chooses whether and when to complete each stage of a long-term project. In addition to procrastination in starting a project, a naive person might undertake costly effort to begin a project but then never complete it. When the costs of completing different stages are more unequal, procrastination is more likely, and it is when later stages are more costly that people start but don't …nish projects. Moreover, if the structure of costs over the course of a project is endogenous, people are prone to choose cost structures that lead them to start but not finish projects. We also consider several extensions of the model that further illustrate how people may incur costs on projects they never complete.

Participation in Higher Education: A Random Parameter Logit Approach with Policy Simulations

In this paper we present a theoretical model of higher education participation. We assume that young people that complete upper secondary education are faced with three choices, go to higher education, not go to higher education or go to higher education and work part time. Utilizing the Living in Ireland survey data 1994-2001 we model this choice in an Irish context by variation in costs (direct and indirect), the estimated lifecycle returns and household credit constraints. Using a random parameters logit choice model we find that simulated lifecycle earnings positively impact the educational/labour choices of young individuals in Ireland. This positive relationship is also found to be true for a choice-specific household income variable constructed in the paper. From the random parameters logit estimations we also find that preferences for choices with higher simulated lifecycle earnings and household income vary across individuals. We conduct policy simulations from our estimations and found that increasing student financial aid levels by 10% combined with a slight widening of the income limits for these aids can lead to significant movement away from the decision to not enter higher education.higher education participation, random parameters logit model, lifecycle simulated earnings, higher education policy

Towards a multi-purpose framework for tax-benefit microsimulation: lessons from EUROMOD

Tax-benefit models provide tools for policy analyses that should enable researchers to focus their attention on formulating policy scenarios and analysing their effects. From the users? and the developers? points of view, numerous characteristics and features are desirable to maximise the model?s usefulness. A model framework that offers generalised components essential for tax-benefit modelling while at the same time providing a large degree of flexibility in defining the specific parameters can be re-used for a multitude of modelling purposes. This paper discusses issues arising in the construction of such a general framework and illustrates possible approaches by reference to the the framework developed for construction of the EUROMOD tax-benefit model. EUROMOD is an integrated tax-benefit microsimulation model covering 15 (pre 2004) countries that are members of the European Union (Immervoll et al, 1999) as well as 4 of the New Member States. Implementing this many tax-benefit systems in one single consistent framework requires a robust yet flexible structure. The framework needs to reflect the basic structural characteristics of tax-benefit systems while leaving enough room for a diversity of particular instruments and rules. This paper outlines the general model framework adopted. We argue that, apart from its direct usefulness for EUROMOD, the framework has far wider applicability as a general approach to static tax-benefit microsimulation modelling.