Is Ireland really the role model for austerity?

This paper describes the causes and consequences of Ireland's economic crisis in the context of the policy solution implemented to contain that crisis: protracted fiscal austerity. I describe the causes of the recent crisis in Ireland, and look at the logic of austerity with a simple model. I compare the current crisis to the crisis of the 1980's, when fiscal austerity was touted as the trigger for the Celtic Tiger. I discuss the measures implemented to date in the current crisis, tracing their effects on sectors of Ireland's macroeconomy, and, finally, ask whether Ireland is, indeed, the role model for fiscal austerity in the Eurozone and beyond.Ireland, Austerity, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy

Words to the Wise: Stock Flow Consistent Modeling of Financial Instability

The crisis has exposed the failure of economic models to deal sensibly with endogenously generated crises propagating from the financial sectors to the real economy, and back again. The goal of this paper is to review the method of stock flow consistent modeling to highlight areas in which it is deficient. I argue there is a fruitful research agenda in shoring up these deficiencies. The objective of stock flow modeling should be the ability to practically model unstable macroeconomies, and in particular their interactions with the financial sector. These models should provide 'Words to the Wise', and until they do, they are just thought experiments.Instability, finance, stock flow consistent models

A Model of Partnership Formation with Friction and Multiple Criteria

We present a model of partnership formation based on two discrete character traits. There are two classes of individual. Each individual observes a sequence of potential partners from the other class. The traits are referred to as attractiveness and character, respectively. All individuals prefer partners of high attractiveness and similar character. Attractiveness can be measured instantly. However, in order to observe the character of an individual, a costly interview (or date) is required. On observing the attractiveness of a prospective partner, an individual must decide whether he/she wishes to proceed to the interview stage. During the interview phase, the prospective pair observe each other's character and then decide whether they wish to form a pair. Mutual acceptance is required for both an interview to occur and a pair to form. An individual stops searching on nding a partner. A set of criteria based on the concept of a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium is used to define an equilibrium of this game. It is argued that under such a general formulation there may be multiple equilibria. For this reason, we define a specific formulation of the game, the so called symmetric version, which has a unique symmetric equilibrium. The form of this equilibrium has some similarities to the block separating equilibrium derived for classical models of two-sided mate choice and job search problems, but is essentially different.mutual mate choice, game theory, common preferences, homotypic preferences, subgame perfect equilibrium

Legal protection of investors, corporate governance, and investable premia in emerging markets

We examine the interaction between the legal protection of investors, corporate governance within firms, institutional development between countries, and investable premia in emerging markets. In a multi country setting and using a novel dataset we find that better-governed firms experience significantly greater stock price increases upon equity market liberalization. We look to see whether well-governed firms in poorly governed countries enjoy an investability premium as measured by Tobin’s q. We find they do. Investors look beyond the seemingly weak country-level governance structures, and focus on corporate governance.Investability, Corporate Governance, Tobin's q, Emerging Markets

Legal protection of investors, corporate governance, and investable premia in emerging markets. Department of Economic Finance and Accounting Working Paper Series N229-12

We examine the interaction between the legal protection of investors, corporate governance within firms, institutional development between countries, and investable premia in emerging markets. In a multi country setting and using a novel dataset we find that better-governed firms experience significantly greater stock price increases upon equity market liberalization. We look to see whether well-governed firms in poorly governed countries enjoy an investability premium as measured by Tobin’s q. We find they do. Investors look beyond the seemingly weak country-level governance structures, and focus on corporate governance

Modular structure in labour networks reveals skill basins

There is an emerging consensus in the literature that locally embedded capabilities and industrial know-how are key determinants of growth and diversification processes. In order to model these dynamics as a branching process, whereby industries grow as a function of the availability of related or relevant skills, industry networks are typically employed. These networks, sometimes referred to as industry spaces, describe the complex structure of the capability or skill overlap between industry pairs, measured here via inter-industry labour flows. Existing models typically deploy a local or 'nearest neighbour' approach to capture the size of the labour pool available to an industry in related sectors. This approach, however, ignores higher order interactions in the network, and the presence of industry clusters or groups of industries which exhibit high internal skill overlap. We argue that these clusters represent skill basins in which workers circulate and diffuse knowledge, and delineate the size of the skilled labour force available to an industry. By applying a multi-scale community detection algorithm to this network of flows, we identify industry clusters on a range of scales, from many small clusters to few large agglomerations. We construct a new variable, cluster employment, which captures the workforce available to an industry within its own cluster. Using a new dataset from Ireland, we show that this variable is predictive of industry employment growth, particularly in services. Furthermore, exploiting the multi-scale nature of the industrial clusters detected, we propose a methodology to uncover the optimal scale at which labour pooling operates

Legal protection of investors, corporate governance, and investable premia in emerging markets. Department of Economic Finance and Accounting Working Paper Series N229-12

We examine the interaction between the legal protection of investors, corporate governance within firms, institutional development between countries, and investable premia in emerging markets. In a multi country setting and using a novel dataset we find that better-governed firms experience significantly greater stock price increases upon equity market liberalization. We look to see whether well-governed firms in poorly governed countries enjoy an investability premium as measured by Tobin’s q. We find they do. Investors look beyond the seemingly weak country-level governance structures, and focus on corporate governance

Reliability of Sprint Acceleration Performance and Three Repetition Maximum Back Squat Strength in Hurling Players

The purpose of this study was to estimate the inter-day reliability of 5, 10 and 20-meter sprint time and three repetition maximum back squat strength in male hurling players. Eighteen male hurling players volunteered to participate and performed 20- meter sprint trials and a three repetition maximum back squat strength test at each test session, on three separate occasions, a minimum of 48 hours apart. Participants performed three sprints over 20-meters, including split times at 5 and 10-meters. The three repetition back squat strength test was performed after the sprint test. The results displayed acceptable levels of reliability for sprint performance times (Intra class correlation coefficient single measure range: 0.76-0.89; Coefficient of variance range: 1.0 – 2.0%) and absolute and relative three repetition maximum back squat strength (Intra class correlation coefficient single measure: 0.98; CV 0.8%). Furthermore, sprint performance times and three repetition maximum back squat strength measures estimated feasible minimum a priori sample sizes from limits of agreement (5-meter:0.01 ± 0.08 s; 10-meter:-0.01 ± 0.12; 20-meter:-0.007 ± 0.15s; three repetition maximum (kg): 1.11 ± 4.19kg; three repetition maximum (kg/BW): 0.01 ± 0.06) random error therefore showing acceptable reliability. Sprint performance over 5, 10 and 20-meters and three repetition maximum back squat strength are reliable measures in male hurling players and can be used to estimate feasible minimum a priori sample sizes for sport science research