The Undergraduate as an Engaged Explorer

This paper asserts that most undergraduates leave Irish universities short-changed, never having been exposed to the riches of research. A re-conceptualisation of the research university is proposed, one founded on a culture of inquiry, interdisciplinarity and innovation. Scholarship is expanded to include engagement with communities, utilising the academy's unique multidisciplinary environment. It is argued that creativity and exploration should be essential elements in every undergraduate experience. A specific programme is used to exemplify how a responsible, civic and sustainable innovation culture can guide research and self-discovery, helping students understand how developing their own ventures can create value in society

Controlling Public Spending in Times of Plenty

Most economists, without much prompting, would claim that the annual rate of growth in public expenditure since 1990 has been 'excessive'. However, the case is distinctly underwhelming if it relies on standard macroeconomic arguments. The general Government Deficit (GGD) has been kept below 3% of gdp each year since 1987 and this year we're on track for a budget surplus. By the end of the year the debt-gdp ratio is likely to be about 66%- below the EU average and almost 30 points lower than in 1989.deficit; debt

Why do some countries produce so much more output per worker than others? - A note

In an important paper, Hall and Jones (1999) show that international differences in output per worker across 127 countries in 1988 are fundamentally determined by variations in, what they term, a country's ``social infrastructure''. This paper conducts a robustness check of their findings by implementing a testing framework that is radically different to their approach. Specifically, we estimate a stochastic, rather than a deterministic, production frontier and we also model the potential role of social infrastructure in explaining productivity in a single step, rather than the statistically unsatisfactory two-step method used by Hall and Jones. We obtain two important findings that are strongly supportive of Hall and Jones' results. First, the bulk of inter-country variation in output per worker is accounted for by differences in productivity. Second, social infrastructure is found to be a highly significant variable in explaining inter-country productivity differences.

Compatibility of Expected Utility and µ/s Approaches to Risk for a Class of Non Location-Scale Distributions

Proofs of compatibility of the expected utility and µ/s approaches to incorporating uncertainty in decision making exist for at least some utility functions and location-scale distributions. But there are severe constraints and it is desirable to investigate compatibility more widely. We do so for the class of distributions that are transformable to location-scale form by concave transformation and where the utility functions remain concave under transformation. The class is important, containing distributions such as the lognormal and Pareto, usually considered more appropriate for modelling income or wealth than those in the location-scale family.

Trade and Technological Explanations for Changes in Sectoral Labour Demand in OECD Economies

This paper sets out to establish the main determinants of variations in the demand for aggregate labour in manufacturing and service sectors (22) for a cross-section of OECD countries (14). We employed a relatively new panel data set in our analysis, the OECD's International Sectoral Data Base. Preliminary analysis revealed that the "within" sector variation in the wage share dominated overall variation for most countries and time periods. A separate dynamic model was thus generated to explain the "within" sector variation in the wage share. This model contained real wages, output, the capital stock, technological change (total factor productivity) and trade (the imports to value-added ratio) as independent variables. In addition we also interacted the wage level with these explanatory variables on the presumption that skill is positively correlated with the level of wages. Because of the potential for simultaneity bias, estimation was conducted by IV and OLS. The main findings were that the capital stock and technological change were the main determinants of shifts in labour demand. While some countries reported the trade variable as significant its influence was only of slight importance in most cases. The interaction terms proved to be significant in a large number of countries. We found some evidence that capital and technological were complementary with skill. Overall we found broad agreement across countries in the factors which influence labour demand despite considerable differences in the cross-country nature of labour market institutions.labour demand; technological change; trade; OECD countries

A New Mean Standard Deviation Utility Function and the Behaviour Towards Risk of Specialist Irish Agricultural Producers: 1988-1997

This paper employs a new mean-standard deviation utility (MSU) function with more general properties than traditionally employed function in the agricultural economics literature to explore the risk preferences of Irish barley producers between 1988 and 1997. During this period EU cereal producers were subject to major policy reforms (MacSharry Reforms) that may have influenced the nature of producers' risk attitudes. Our findings support the proposed function in preference to the Linear Mean Variance (LMV) function. We find that Irish cereal producers are highly risk averse but their degree of risk aversion falls appreciably in the period before and following the MacSharry Reforms. We also find that the majority of Irish producers exhibit increasing absolute risk aversion (IARA) but the proportion displaying DARA increases substantially following the 1992 Reforms. The policy implications of our results are discussed.

Public-Private Wage Differentials in Ireland, 1994-2001

Are public sector workers in Ireland paid more than private sector employees, when such differences in productivity-related personal attributes and job characteristics are controlled for? We estimate that in 2001 the premium enjoyed by public servants was about 13 per cent. We find that the premium, is significantly bigger for those near the bottom of the earnings distribution than for those near the top, was significantly bigger for women than men in the mid-1990s but not at the end of the 1990s, and does not vary significantly across different levels of educational attainment. We estimate the premium for 2001 to be not significantly different from that estimated for 1994 despite this period a period of exceptionally rapid output and employment growth, and correspondingly sharp tightening of labour market conditions in the Irish economy. The most remarkable difference between our results and those of other researchers for other countries relates to the absolute size of the premium. A number of possible explanations for this difference are discussed.public, private, wage,differentials, Ireland,

Analysis of the Economic, Social and Cultural Profile of County Roscommon (NIRSA) Working Paper Series. No. 11

The purpose of this report is to provide an assessment of the current situation in County Roscommon in relation to economic, social and cultural development in order to assist the County Development Board in the preparation of its 10 to 15 years strategy. The content of the report takes account of the DOELG (Department of Environment and Local Government) Guidelines document, A Shared Vision for County/City Development Boards

A Comparative Study of Student Demand for Status in Ireland, Italy and the United States

This paper reports on results of surveys of hundreds of students in Italy, Ireland and the United States that show that if simply confronted with questions about their preferences for high relative income at the expense of absolute income that a) a substantial fractiongive inconsistent answers and b) that the remainder are overwhelmingly status conscious. It also shows that where they are given more information about the benefits of higher real income that there is a significant decrease in this preference for status. The results are remarkably similar in all 3 countries and what differences exist are consistent with what we know about their differences in intergenerational income mobility. It also sho ws that when the price of status is changed American students response is highly inconsistent with any fully formed preferences for status. This is somewhat less so in Italy. Overall the results throw doubt on one of the empirical linchpins that has been used to bolster the idea that relative income is what people seek.