Income-Related Subsidies for Universal Health Insurance Premia: Exploring Alternatives Using the SWITCH Model. ESRI WP516. November 2015

The Programme for Government indicated that under a Universal Health Insurance system, the State would “pay insurance premia for people on low incomes and subsidise premia for people on middle incomes”. This paper examines issues in the design of such a subsidy scheme, in the context of overall premium costs as estimated by Wren et al. (2015) and the KPMG (2015) study for the Health Insurance Authority. Subsidy design could involve a step-level system, similar to the medical card and GP visit card in the current system; or a smooth, tapered withdrawal of the subsidy, similar to what obtains for many cash benefits in the welfare system. The trade-offs between the income limit up to which a full subsidy would be payable, the rate of withdrawal of subsidy with respect to extra income and overall subsidy cost are explored

Body Temperature in Free-Roaming Beef Cattle

Body temperature (BT) measurements are traditionally used in diagnosing sick animals, but may also be used as an indicator of stress or activity. Based on results of metabolism studies, Mader et al. (1999) reported that BT can vary as much as 0.9oC and can depend on metabolisable energy (ME) of the diet consumed. Acceptable measures of BT can be obtained from the rectum, vagina, or ear canal. Technologies are also being developed for continuously monitoring BT via radio-telemetry. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of high concentrate (low fibre) versus high fibre diets on BT, assess the capabilities of obtaining BT in free-roaming cattle, and compare temperatures taken in the rumen with vaginal and tympanic temperatures

Understanding the Ocean Economy within Regional and National Contexts

Extending discussion of the ocean economy beyond “How Big” – Changes in the U.S. related to the Great Recession – Decomposing changes to major types of change – Finding relative sizes Exploring the expanding attention to the ocean economy in other parts of the world – Likenesses and differences in: Definitions Measures Geographies Purposes Where do we go from here?

CALIFORNIA’S OCEAN ECONOMY

California’s Ocean Economy is the most expansive study of its kind in the nation and provides an update to the 1994 economic study conducted by the California Research Bureau and later released as part of the Resources Agency ocean strategy titled, California’s Ocean Resources: An Agenda for the Future. This report from the National Ocean Economics Program (NOEP) provides a more comprehensive understanding of the economic role of California’s ocean resources than has been available to date. It also provides California with strong evidence that its unique ocean and coastal resources are important to sustaining California’s economy. This information highlights the economic importance of the ocean and coast to California and the nation and underscores the need for continued leadership in balancing resource protection and economic development

The Great Recession, Austerity and Inequality: Evidence from Ireland. ESRI WP499. April 2015

The advent of the Great Recession and the widespread adoption of fiscal austerity policies have heightened concern about inequality and its effects. We examine how the distribution of income in Ireland has evolved over the years 2008 to 2013, using data from the CSO’s Survey on Income and Living Conditions. Snapshots of the income distribution show that the greatest falls in income were for the bottom decile (poorest 10 per cent). Longitudinal analysis shows that these sharp falls were not due to decreasing income for those remaining in the bottom decile, but to falling income among those with somewhat higher incomes. Most of those falling into the bottom decile came from the bottom one third of the income distribution

Modelling Eligibility for Medical Cards and GP Visit Cards: Methods and Baseline Results. ESRI WP515. November 2015

The Irish healthcare system includes a complex mix of entitlements – some are universal, others age-related, and some are income-related. In this report, we concentrate on the major income-related entitlements in the current system i.e., the Medical Card and the GP Visit Card. Most medical cards are provided on an income-tested basis, and provide free access to in-patient and out-patient care in public hospitals, to GP care, and to prescription drugs. We examine how the income test for such schemes can be modelled using the detailed income and demographic information in the Survey on Income and Living Conditions. The approach taken applies the rules for income-related cards to each family in this nationally representative sample, using the information they provide on incomes and family composition. This is essential groundwork for later studies which will examine how the pattern of entitlements might change under different rules, such as those introducing age-related entitlements to GP visit cards, or changes in income limits

BUDGET PERSPECTIVES 2016, PAPER 1. Exploring Tax and Welfare Options. June 2015

Budgetary policies on income-related taxes and welfare must find a balance between providing income support to those in need and maintaining a financial incentive to work which supports high employment. This paper focuses principally on the “cash” or “first round” impact of tax and welfare policy changes across the income distribution. Incentive issues are considered in Section 5 of this paper, and in a companion paper to this conference (Savage et al., 2015)

BUDGET PERSPECTIVES 2016, PAPER 2. Making Work Pay More: Recent Initiatives. June 2015

This paper examines the financial incentives to work implicit in the Irish tax and benefit system, focusing in particular on incentives facing those who are unemployed and in receipt of Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Assistance. The results, based on an analysis of current incomes, benefits and taxes, suggest that more than eight out of ten of these unemployed jobseekers would see their income increase by at least 40 per cent upon taking up employment. Fewer than 3 per cent of these individuals would, in the short-term, be financially better off not in work. The risk of facing weak financial incentives to work is higher for unemployed persons with a spouse and children, as the income support goal of the welfare system means that they tend to have higher welfare payments. However, even among that group, fewer than 1 in 15 would be financially better off not working. Our analysis shows that a recent policy initiative, the Back to Work Family Dividend, announced in Budget 2015, clearly improves the immediate financial incentives to work for this group

State of the U.S. Ocean and Coastal Economies 2009

This nation’s coasts and oceans contribute much to the United States economy. For the past ten years, the National Ocean Economics Program (NOEP) has compiled time-series data that track economic activities,demographics, natural resource production, non-market values, and federal expenditures in the U.S. coastal zone both on land and in the water. On the website www.oceaneconomics.org, the public—government officials,academics, industry, and advocacy groups—have had interactive access to this information and used it widely for many different purposes. This report features highlights from this collection to heighten appreciation for the value of the ocean and this nation’s coasts among an even broader audience. Two economies were measured: the ocean economy, which includes all ocean-dependent activities in coastal states, and the coastal economy, which includes all economic activity in coastal states, with geographies such as zip codes, counties, and watersheds. Non-market values for goods and services not traded in the market place are also included for purposes of understanding the often underestimated values of America’s natural resources

Investigating the influence of surface meltwater on the ice dynamics of the Greenland Ice Sheet

This thesis explains the annual ice velocity cycle of the Sermeq (Glacier) Avannarleq flowline, in West Greenland, using a longitudinally coupled 2D (vertical cross-section) ice flow model coupled to a 1D (depth-integrated) hydrology model via a novel basal sliding rule. Within a reasonable parameter space, the coupled model produces mean annual solutions of both the ice geometry and velocity that are validated by both in situ and remotely sensed observations. The modeled annual velocity cycle reproduces the broad features of the annual basal sliding cycle observed along this flowline, namely a summer speedup event followed by a fall slowdown. The summer speedup event corresponds to conditions of increasing hydraulic head during inefficient subglacial drainage, while the fall slowdown event corresponds to conditions of decreasing hydraulic head during efficient subglacial drainage. Calculated coupling stresses diminish to less than 10 % of total driving stress within 6 km upstream of the Sermeq Avannarleq terminus. This suggests that the annual ice velocity cycle observed at CU/ETH (\u22Swiss\u22) Camp (46 km upstream) is unlikely to be the result of velocity perturbations being propagated upstream via longitudinal coupling, but instead reflects local surface meltwater induced ice acceleration. This thesis also compares high-resolution 1985 and 2009 imagery of the Sermeq Avannarleq ablation zone to assess changes in crevasse extent and supraglacial hydrology. The area occupied by crevasses \u3e 2 m wide significantly increased (13 ± 4 %) over the 24-year period. This increase consists of an expansion of existing crevasse fields, and is accompanied by widespread changes in crevasse orientation (up to 45°). The increase in crevasse extent is likely due to a combination of ice sheet thinning and changes in flow direction, both stemming from the recent acceleration of nearby Jakobshavn Isbrae. A first-order demonstration that moulin-type drainage is more efficient than crevasse-type drainage in transferring meltwater fluctuations to the subglacial system suggests that this transition may dampen the basal sliding sensitivity of portions of the ice sheet that are not presently crevassed. An increase in crevasse extent may also enhance mass loss through increased surface ablation and increased deformational ice velocities due to facilitated cryo-hydrologic warming