Showing papers by "Economic and Social Research Institute published in 2016"
TL;DR: Overall, this study shows, for the first time, the evolution of the patterns of international scientific collaboration starting from initial results described by literature in the 1970s and 1990s and finds a convergence of these long-run collaboration patterns between the applied and basic sciences.
Abstract: International research collaboration plays an important role in the social construction and evolution of science. Studies of science increasingly analyze international collaboration across multiple organizations for its impetus in improving research quality, advancing efficiency of the scientific production, and fostering breakthroughs in a shorter time. However, long-run patterns of international research collaboration across scientific fields and their structural changes over time are hardly known. Here we show the convergence of international scientific collaboration across research fields over time. Our study uses a dataset by the National Science Foundation and computes the fraction of papers that have international institutional coauthorships for various fields of science. We compare our results with pioneering studies carried out in the 1970s and 1990s by applying a standardization method that transforms all fractions of internationally coauthored papers into a comparable framework. We find, over 1973–2012, that the evolution of collaboration patterns across scientific disciplines seems to generate a convergence between applied and basic sciences. We also show that the general architecture of international scientific collaboration, based on the ranking of fractions of international coauthorships for different scientific fields per year, has tended to be unchanged over time, at least until now. Overall, this study shows, to our knowledge for the first time, the evolution of the patterns of international scientific collaboration starting from initial results described by literature in the 1970s and 1990s. We find a convergence of these long-run collaboration patterns between the applied and basic sciences. This convergence might be one of contributing factors that supports the evolution of modern scientific fields.
229 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse public acceptance of energy infrastructure and its main drivers on local vs. national levels using a nationally representative survey and find that, on a national level, the acceptance of RES is very high and there is also a high acceptance of grid expansion if it helps to increase the share of RES in the system.
203 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the factors associated with occupational stress and job satisfaction among Irish primary school principals, using Growing up in Ireland data, a national representative study of nine-year-old children in Ireland.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors associated with occupational stress and job satisfaction among Irish primary school principals. A principal’s job has become increasingly demanding and complex in recent decades. However, there is little current research into their levels of stress and job satisfaction, particularly based on nationally representative data. In order to understand how principals perceive their job and how best to support them, new insights into factors contributing to job satisfaction and stress of school principals are warranted. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on an analysis of Growing up in Ireland data, a national representative study of nine-year-old children in Ireland. In order to explore the simultaneous impact of individual and school factors on stress and job satisfaction of principals in Irish primary schools, multivariate analysis was used. Analyses in this paper are based on responses from principals in 898 schools. Findings – The resul...
97 citations
TL;DR: The two studies were at high risk of bias, in part because blinding was not possible and small sample sizes meant that the overall certainty of all the evidence was very low.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Dementia is a chronic, progressive and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disease. Advanced dementia is characterised by profound cognitive impairment, inability to communicate verbally and complete functional dependence. Usual care of people with advanced dementia is not underpinned universally by a palliative approach. Palliative care has focused traditionally on care of people with cancer but for more than a decade, there have been increased calls worldwide to extend palliative care services to include all people with life-limiting illnesses in need of specialist care, including people with dementia. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of palliative care interventions in advanced dementia and to report on the range of outcome measures used. SEARCH METHODS: We searched ALOIS, the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group's Specialized Register on 4 February 2016. ALOIS contains records of clinical trials identified from monthly searches of several major healthcare databases, trial registries and grey literature sources. We ran additional searches across MEDLINE (OvidSP), Embase (OvidSP), PsycINFO (OvidSP), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), LILACS (BIREME), Web of Science Core Collection (ISI Web of Science), ClinicalTrials.gov and the World Health Organization ICTRP trial portal to ensure that the searches were as comprehensive and as up-to-date as possible. SELECTION CRITERIA: We searched for randomised (RCT) and non-randomised controlled trials (nRCT), controlled before-and-after studies (CBA) and interrupted time series studies evaluating the impact of palliative care interventions for adults with dementia of any type, staged as advanced dementia by a recognised and validated tool. Participants could be people with advanced dementia, their family members, clinicians or paid care staff. We included clinical interventions and non-clinical interventions. Comparators were usual care or another palliative care intervention. We did not exclude studies on the basis of outcomes measured and recorded all outcomes measured in included studies. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently assessed for inclusion all the potential studies we identified as a result of the search strategy. We resolved any disagreement through discussion or, when required, consulted with the rest of the review team. We independently extracted data and conducted assessment of methodological quality, using standard Cochrane methods. MAIN RESULTS: We identified two studies of palliative care interventions for people with advanced dementia. We did not pool data due to the heterogeneity between the two trials in terms of the interventions and the settings. The two studies measured 31 different outcomes, yet they did not measure the same outcome. There are six ongoing studies that we expect to include in future versions of this review.Both studies were at high risk of bias, in part because blinding was not possible. This and small sample sizes meant that the overall certainty of all the evidence was very low.One individually randomised RCT (99 participants) evaluated the effect of a palliative care team for people with advanced dementia hospitalised for an acute illness. While this trial reported that a palliative care plan was more likely to be developed for participants in the intervention group (risk ratio (RR) 5.84, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.37 to 25.02), the plan was only adopted for two participants, both in the intervention group, while in hospital. The palliative care plan was more likely to be available on discharge in the intervention group (RR 4.50, 95% CI 1.03 to 19.75). We found no evidence that the intervention affected mortality in hospital (RR 1.06, 95% CI 0.53 to 2.13), decisions to forgo cardiopulmonary resuscitation in hospital or the clinical care provided during hospital admission, but for the latter, event rates were low and the results were associated with a lot of uncertainty.One cluster RCT (256 participants, each enrolled with a family carer) evaluated the effect of a decision aid on end-of-life feeding options on surrogate decision-makers of nursing home residents with advanced dementia. Data for 90 participants (35% of the original study) met the definition of advanced dementia for this review and were re-analysed for the purposes of the review. In this subset, intervention surrogates had lower scores for decisional conflict measured on the Decisional Conflict Scale (mean difference -0.30, 95% CI -0.61 to 0.01, reduction of 0.3 to 0.4 units considered meaningful) and were more likely than participants in the control group to discuss feeding options with a clinician (RR 1.57, 95% CI 0.93 to 2.64), but imprecision meant that there was significant uncertainty about both results. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Very little high quality work has been completed exploring palliative care interventions in advanced dementia. There were only two included studies in this review, with variation in the interventions and in the settings that made it impossible to conduct a meta-analysis of data for any outcome. Thus, we conclude that there is insufficient evidence to assess the effect of palliative care interventions in advanced dementia. The fact that there are six ongoing studies at the time of this review indicates an increased interest in this area by researchers, which is welcome and needed.
96 citations
TL;DR: The aim of this Position Paper is to describe the advantages and disadvantages of the known medication adherence tools to provide the appropriate criteria to assess medication adherence in older persons and suggest a combination of methods appears to be the most suitable.
Abstract: Nonadherence to medication regimens is a worldwide challenge; adherence rates range from 38 to 57 % in older populations with an average rate of less than 45 % and nonadherence contributes to adverse drug events, increased emergency visits and hospitalisations. Accurate measurement of medication adherence is important in terms of both research and clinical practice. However, the identification of an objective approach to measure nonadherence is still an ongoing challenge. The aim of this Position Paper is to describe the advantages and disadvantages of the known medication adherence tools (self-report, pill count, medication event monitoring system (MEMS) and electronic monitoring devices, therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacy records based on pharmacy refill and pharmacy claims databases) to provide the appropriate criteria to assess medication adherence in older persons. To the best of our knowledge, no gold standard has been identified in adherence measurement and no single method is sufficiently reliable and accurate. A combination of methods appears to be the most suitable. Secondly, adherence assessment should always consider tools enabling polypharmacy adherence assessment. Moreover, it is increasingly evident that adherence, as a process, has to be assessed over time and not just at one evaluation time point (drug discontinuation). When cognitive deficits or functional impairments may impair reliability of adherence assessment, a comprehensive geriatric assessment should be performed and the caregiver involved. Finally, studies considering the possible implementation in clinical practice of adherence assessment tools validated in research are needed.
57 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an empirical study of the relationship between the energy performance rating of residential homes in the Dublin market between 2009 and 2014 and their market prices, controlling for building type, size, age and location, was conducted.
Abstract: This paper is an empirical study of the relationship between the energy performance rating of residential homes in the Dublin market between 2009 and 2014 and their market prices, controlling for building type, size, age and location. Initial results suggest that energy efficiency has a significant, positive relationship with list price. A 50-point improvement in the Energy Performance Indicator (kWh/m2/year) is associated with a 1.5 % higher list price. Alternatively, using the Building Energy Rating metric, a 1-point improvement in the 15-point scale from G to A1 yields a list price increase of 1 %. This mirrors findings for efficiency price premiums on a nationwide basis from Hyland et al. (2013). We also find that it is important to include controls for the age of the dwelling to avoid biased energy efficiency estimates in the hedonic model.
55 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the relative importance of upper secondary subject choice and attainment in explaining social inequalities in access to higher education (HE) in Scotland and Ireland was examined and the role of subject choice in HE entry has not become more important over time.
Abstract: This paper examines the relative importance of upper secondary subject choice and attainment in explaining social inequalities in access to higher education (HE) in Scotland and Ireland. These two countries differ in the extent of curriculum differentiation, in the degree of standardisation in school examination and in HE entry criteria. In particular, in Scotland subject choice in upper secondary education is more differentiated (both in terms of number and type of subjects taken) and allocation of places in HE is less standardised and more dependent upon the subjects studied at school than in Ireland. Given these institutional differences, we expected subject choices to be more important for explaining social origin differences in HE entry and access to prestigious institutions in Scotland than in Ireland. Because of increasing student competition for HE places, we further hypothesised the growing importance of school subjects over time in mediating social inequalities in HE entry in both countries, more so in Scotland than in Ireland. Our results confirm that subject choice is a stronger mediator of social inequalities in HE entry and access to prestigious universities in Scotland while attainment is more important in Ireland. Contrary to our expectations, the role of subject choice in HE entry has not become more important over time. However, in Scotland subject choice continues to be a strong mediator for social inequalities in HE entry.
54 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluate the effect of innovation support programmes on output innovation by SMEs in traditional manufacturing industry by conducting a survey in seven EU regions to generate the data needed to estimate pre-published switching models by means of the copula approach.
Abstract: We evaluate the effect of innovation support programmes on output innovation by SMEs in traditional manufacturing industry. This focus is motivated by a definition of traditional manufacturing industry that includes capacity for innovation, and by evidence of its continued importance in EU employment. We conducted a survey in seven EU regions to generate the data needed to estimate pre-published switching models by means of the copula approach, from which we derived treatment effects on a wide range of innovation outputs. We find that for participants the estimated effects of innovation support programmes are positive, typically increasing the probability of innovation and of its commercial success by around 15 per cent. Yet we also find that a greater return on public investment could have been secured by supporting firms chosen at random from the population of innovating traditional sector SMEs. These findings indicate the effectiveness of innovation support programmes while suggesting reform of their selection procedures.
52 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an income based classification showed that the affluent income class saw its advantage relative to the income poor class decline at the earliest stage of the life-course and remain stable across the rest of life course.
Abstract: Following an unprecedented boom, since 2008 Ireland has experienced a severe economic and labour market crisis. Considerable debate persists as to where the heaviest burden of the recession has fallen. Conventional measures of relative income poverty and inequality have a limited capacity to capture the impact of the recession in terms of social exclusion. This is exacerbated by a dramatic increase in the scale of debt problems including significant negative equity issues. Our analysis provides no evidence for individualization or class polarization of risk. Instead, while economic stress level is highly stratified in class terms in both boom and bust periods, the changing impact of class is highly contingent on life course stage. An income based classification showed that the affluent income class saw its advantage relative to the income poor class decline at the earliest stage of the life-course and remain stable across the rest of the life course. At the other end of the hierarchy, the income poor class experienced a relative improvement in their situation in the earlier life-course phase and no significant change at the later stages. For the remaining income classes, life-course stage was even more important. At the earliest stage the precarious class experienced some improvement in its situation while the outcomes for the middle classes remain unchanged. In the mid-life course the precarious and lower middle classes experienced disproportionate increases in their stress levels while at the later stage it is the combined middle classes that lost out. Additional effects over time relating to social class are restricted to the deteriorating situation of the petit bourgeoisie at the middle stage of the life-course. The pattern is clearly a good deal more complex than that suggested by conventional notions of ‘middle class squeeze’ and points to the distinctive challenges relating to welfare and taxation policy faced by governments in the Great Recession.
49 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate how increasing wind generation affects wholesale electricity prices, balancing payments and the cost of subsidies using the Irish Single Electricity Market (SEM) as a test system, with hourly data from 1 January 2008 to 28 August 2012.
Abstract: We evaluate how increasing wind generation affects wholesale electricity prices, balancing payments and the cost of subsidies using the Irish Single Electricity Market (SEM) as a test system, with hourly data from 1 January 2008 to 28 August 2012. We measure the effect of wind on the marginal cost of generating electricity using a system of seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) where the regressions are the 24 hours of the day. Wind has a negative impact on the system marginal price. In particular, every MWh increase in wind generation (equal to about 0.2% of the average wind generation in our sample) leads to a decrease of the system marginal price of €0.018/MWh, or about 0.3% of its average value in our sample. Using time series models we show that wind generation increases balancing payments, as do the forecast errors of demand and wind. Lack of storage significantly increases the impact of wind on balancing payments whereas the lack of interconnection has no effect. Overall, wind decreases costs through its effect on the electricity price more than it increases constraint payments, even when storage is on outage. The effect of wind remains positive after including the subsidies given to wind generation.
47 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the difference in investment efficiency between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private firms was evaluated and the effect of privatisation and equitisation policies on the investment efficiency of former SOEs.
TL;DR: In this article, an ongoing debate about state-run denominational schools and the place of religious education in these is discussed, with a focus on primary schools in the Republic of Ireland.
Abstract: Growing secularisation of the population and the arrival of new culturally and religiously diverse migrants are posing new challenges to schools in the Republic of Ireland (Ireland). These challenges are particularly acute in Irish primary schools, the majority of which are under Catholic patronage. Recent changes have necessitated an extensive consultation process about how to accommodate religious diversity and have resulted in some important policy changes. This article contributes to an ongoing debate about state-run denominational schools and the place of Religious Education in these. While set in the Irish context, the article is also relevant for educators and academics in other jurisdictions as it describes recent policy developments and steps taken in addressing cultural and religious diversity in schools.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look at the impact of the restructuring process on electricity prices for industrial consumers and find that, once the endogeneity of reforms is accounted for, restructuring has, as of yet, had no statistically significant impact on the electricity prices.
TL;DR: Variation between hospitals in Ireland was higher for elective CS than emergency CS suggesting that variation is more likely influenced by antenatal decision making than intrapartum decision making.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Internationally, caesarean section (CS) rates are rising. However, mean rates of CS across providers obscure extremes of CS provision. We aimed to quantify variation between all maternity units in Ireland. METHODS: Two national databases, the National Perinatal Reporting System and the Hospital Inpatient Enquiry Scheme, were used to analyse data for all women delivering singleton births weighing ≥500g. We used multilevel models to examine variation between hospitals in Ireland for elective and emergency CS, adjusted for individual level sociodemographic, clinical and organisational variables. Analyses were subsequently stratified for nullipara and multipara with and without prior CS. RESULTS: The national CS rate was 25.6% (range 18.2% ─ 35.1%). This was highest in multipara with prior CS at 86.1% (range 6.9% ─ 100%). The proportion of variation in CS that was attributable to the hospital of birth was 11.1% (95% CI, 6.0 ─ 19.4) for elective CS and 2.9% (95% CI, 1.4 ─ 5.6) for emergency CS, after adjustment. Stratifying across parity group, variation between hospitals was greatest for multipara with prior CS. Both types of CS were predicted by increasing age, prior history of miscarriage or stillbirth, prior CS, antenatal complications and private model of care. CONCLUSION: The proportion of variation attributable to the hospital was higher for elective CS than emergency CS suggesting that variation is more likely influenced by antenatal decision making than intrapartum decision making. Multipara with prior CS were particularly subject to variability, highlighting a need for consensus on appropriate care in this group.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify the key factors determining the correct identification of skill gaps within firms, and the impact of skill gap on average training expenditures and labour costs is also measured.
Abstract: Optimal training decisions require employers to have accurate information about their workers’ training needs. However, little is known with regard to the key factors determining the accurate transmission of worker training requirements. Using one of the few linked employer–employee surveys in the world, the 2006 Irish National Employment Survey, this article identifies the key factors determining the correct identification of skill gaps within firms. The impact of skill gaps on average training expenditures and labour costs is also measured. The research finds that both HRM and collective bargaining arrangements are important factors in facilitating the accurate identification of skill gaps within firms. The analysis confirms that skill gaps are a key determinant of training expenditures and tend to raise average labour costs. Finally, the evidence suggests that employee perceptions of skill gaps may be prone to higher levels of subjective bias relative to those based on the employers’ views.
TL;DR: PIP is common amongst middle-aged people with the risk of PIP increasing with polypharmacy, and differences in the prevalence of polyphARMacy and PIP between the two populations may relate to heterogeneity in healthcare services and different socio-economic profiles.
Abstract: Purpose
The purpose of this study is to establish the prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) in middle-aged adults (45–64 years) in two populations with differing socio-economic profiles, and to investigate factors associated with PIP, using the PROMPT (PRescribing Optimally in Middle-aged People’s Treatments) criteria.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used on-site survey data from sea, coarse and game angling sites in Ireland to investigate the extent to which anglers are responsive to differences in water quality, with the water quality metric defined by the EU's Water Framework Directive.
Abstract: Using on-site survey data from sea, coarse and game angling sites in Ireland this paper estimates count data models of recreational angling demand. The models are used to investigate the extent to which anglers are responsive to differences in water quality, with the water quality metric defined by the EU's Water Framework Directive. The analysis shows that angling demand is greater where water quality has a higher ecological status, particularly for anglers targeting game species. However, for coarse anglers we find the reverse, angling demand is greater in waters with lower ecological status. On average across the different target species surveyed anglers have a willingness to pay of € 371 for a day's fishing. The estimated additional benefit of fishing in waters with high versus low ecological status is € 122/day for game anglers but there is a decline in benefit of € 93/day for coarse anglers. Management implications While one of the objectives of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to attain and retain good status in water bodies, the diversity in angler preferences means that not all anglers may be affected similarly by efforts that seek to improve water quality. Achieving good water status closely aligns with the interests of game anglers. However, we find that coarse angling demand is higher at sites with poor or bad ecological status. Therefore, what might be considered an improvement in water quality from a WFD perspective may be considered otherwise by coarse anglers, though, further research is required to rule out coincidental correlation between water quality and site specific characteristics important to coarse anglers.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the impact on new business establishments of broadband infrastructure, motorways, airports and railways and a range of other local characteristics such as availability of human capital and access to third level educational facilities.
Abstract: Can improving local infrastructure in underdeveloped areas encourage entrepreneurial activity? If so, which infrastructures and by how much? This paper analyses the impact on new business establishments of broadband infrastructure, motorways, airports and railways and a range of other local characteristics such as availability of human capital and access to third level educational facilities. The sample period spans the introduction and recent history of broadband in Ireland, and during this period 86% of the current motorway network was constructed. Human capital, measured as the percentage of the population with a third level qualification and proximity to a third level institution prove to be important determinants of new firm establishments. Availability of broadband infrastructure is significant, but its effects may be mediated by the presence of sufficiently high educational attainment in the area. Transport infrastructure access is significant for some sectors. For all sectoral groupings examined, firm establishments seem to favour a more diverse local sectoral mix rather than a concentrated one.
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of teacher and school factors of DMEE on mathematics and science achievement, and identified factors with equalising qualities in terms of helping low achieving student groups to catch up with their better achieving peers.
Abstract: Background. The dynamic model of educational effectiveness (DMEE) is a comprehensive theoretical framework including factors that are important for school learning, based on consistent findings within educational effectiveness research. Purpose. This study investigates the impact of teacher and school factors of DMEE on mathematics and science achievement, and identifies factors with equalising qualities in terms of helping low-achieving student groups to catch up with their better-achieving peers. Sample. Data were retrieved from a large-scale, longitudinal project conducted in 571 classes in 334 schools in 6 European countries (Belgium/Flanders, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Ireland and Slovenia). In each country, a sample of about 50 schools was drawn, and tests in mathematics and science were administered to all grade 4 students (N = 10,742) at the beginning and end of school-year 2010–2011. Design and methods. Data on teacher factors were collected through student questionnaires, and data on school factor...
TL;DR: The authors found that perceived group discrimination reflects the direct experiences of immigrants but is also an indicator of their perceptions about the societies in which they live, and that discrimination is a problem for both minority groups and the societies they live in.
Abstract: Discrimination is a problem for both minority groups and the societies in which they live. Perceived group discrimination reflects the direct experiences of immigrants but is also an indicator of r...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the evolution of the Irish Single Electricity Market in order to comply with the European Target Model for electricity and examine the theoretical and empirical conditions under which forward markets promote competition in the spot and retail markets.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored if this is the result of imperfect information related to future energy costs, and they tested this hypothesis by adding 5-year consumption cost labels to the tumble dryer lineup of four outlets of an Irish electrical retailer.
Abstract: Household failure to minimize the total costs of energy-consuming investments has become known as the “energy efficiency gap.” This paper explores if this is partly the result of imperfect information related to future energy costs. We test this hypothesis by adding 5-year consumption cost labels to the tumble dryer lineup of four outlets of an Irish electrical retailer. Although we observe a reduction in the average energy consumption of dryer sales, our analysis does not show a statistically significant effect. However, we highlight a number of experimental limitations in our trial which potentially undermine this treatment effect. In addition, mixed findings from previous research suggest that further trials should be conducted before “lifetime” energy cost labelling is removed from potential policy options to increase the energy efficiency of household appliances.
TL;DR: The goal of early patient access in Europe can only be achieved if the national health technology assessment bodies provide harmonized, transparent, flexible, conditional and adaptive methods that adopt the level of evidence accepted by the medicines agencies.
Abstract: National and international medicines agencies have developed innovative methods to expedite promising new medicines to the market and facilitate early patient access. Some of these approval pathways are the conditional approval and the adaptive pathways by the European Medicines Agency (EMA); the Promising Innovative Medicine (PIM) designation and the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS) by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), as well as the Fast Track, Breakthrough or Accelerated Approval methods by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, at least in Europe, these methods cannot achieve the goal of improving timely access for patients to new medicines on their own; the reimbursement process also has to become adaptive and flexible. In the past 2 years, the effective access (national patient access) to newly approved oncology drugs ranged from 1 to 30 months, with an extremely high variability between European countries. The goal of early patient access in Europe can only be achieved if the national health technology assessment bodies, such as NICE (ENG), HAS (FR), G-BA (DE) or AIFA (IT), provide harmonized, transparent, flexible, conditional and adaptive methods that adopt the level of evidence accepted by the medicines agencies. The efforts from medicines agencies are welcome but will be in vain if health technology assessments do not follow with similar initiatives, and the European 'postcode' lottery will continue.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the potential role of higher education institutions in reducing labour market mismatch amongst new graduates and found that increasing the practical aspects of degree programs, irrespective of the field of study, will reduce the incidence of initial mismatch.
Abstract: This paper examines the potential role of higher education institutions in reducing labour market mismatch amongst new graduates. The research suggests that increasing the practical aspects of degree programmes, irrespective of the field of study, will reduce the incidence of initial mismatch. In terms of routes into the labour market, higher education work placements with the potential to develop into permanent posts and the provision of higher education job placement assistance were found to have substantial impacts in reducing the incidence of graduate mismatch. The use of private employment agencies was found to significantly heighten the risk of subsequent mismatch.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the impact of regulatory limits on mortgage lending on the Irish housing market and find that a reduction in the loan-to-value ratio will lead to a greater demand for rental accommodation, prompting higher rents for a given house price level.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined energy efficiency retrofit depth in Ireland using data from a national residential grant scheme for energy efficiency upgrades, specifically examining both the number of retrofit measures adopted per dwelling, and also the comprehensiveness of retrofits upgrades, which are retrofits in excess of the most common and simple retrofit combinations.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore whether older parents of adult children who emigrate experience, in the short term, increases in depressive symptoms and loneliness feelings compared to parents whose children do not migrate.
Abstract: We explore whether older parents of adult children who emigrate experience, in the short term, increases in depressive symptoms and loneliness feelings compared to parents whose children do not migrate. We use data from the first two waves of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, which is a nationally representative sample of 8500 people aged 50 + living in Ireland. To deal with the endogeneity of migration, we apply fixed-effects estimation models and control for a broad range of life events occurring between the two waves. These include the emigration of a child but also events such as bereavement, onset of disease, retirement and unemployment. We find that depressive symptoms and loneliness feelings increase among the parents of migrant children but that the effect is only present for mothers. As the economic burden of mental health problems is high, our findings have potentially significant impacts for migrant-sending regions and countries.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of parents, peers and teachers on the transition from primary education to secondary education was examined and found to play a crucial role in helping young people adjust to the new school setting but formal involvement in their children's schooling, especially in helping with homework, plays a much less important role.
Abstract: International research has pointed to the social and academic adjustment required of young people moving to secondary education and the importance of social support in easing this transition. However, studies have rarely looked at the simultaneous impact of different social networks on this process and how these networks may mediate the influence of social background. This paper draws on Growing Up in Ireland data to look at the influence of parents, peers and teachers on two dimensions of the transition process, which capture social, socio-emotional and academic aspects of the adjustment: the ease of settling into secondary education, as measured by parents’ reports of transition difficulties among their children, and academic adjustment to secondary education, as reflected in changes in young people’s academic self-image. Parental support is found to play a crucial role in helping young people adjust to the new school setting but, contrary to much previous research, formal involvement in their children’s schooling, especially in helping with homework, plays a much less important role. Over and above supportive relations, parental cultural, economic and social resources are found to play a direct role in improving young people’s confidence as learners and in enhancing transition experiences. Peer networks typically grow larger over the transition to secondary education but those young people who were more socially isolated at primary level experience greater difficulties. In keeping with previous research, the quality of relations with teachers emerges as a key driver of academic and social adjustment to secondary education.
TL;DR: The available evidence is suggestive that the proposed model involving competing insurers would increase healthcare expenditure, in part due to an increase in administrative costs and profits.
TL;DR: The majority of the difference in EMCS rates across models of care can be explained by differing characteristics between the two groups of women, and the main contributor to the difference was advancing maternal age.
Abstract: To evaluate the extent of the difference in elective (ELCS) and emergency (EMCS) caesarean section (CS) rates between nulliparous women in public maternity hospitals in Ireland by model of care, and to quantify the contribution of maternal, clinical, and hospital characteristics in explaining the difference in the rates. Cross-sectional analysis using a combination of two routinely collected administrative databases was performed. A non-linear extension of the Oaxaca-Blinder method is used to decompose the difference between public and private ELCS and EMCS rates into the proportion explained by the differences in observable maternal, clinical, and hospital characteristics and the proportion that remains unexplained. Of the 29,870 babies delivered to nulliparous women, 7,792 were delivered via CS (26.1 %), 79.6 % of which were coded as EMCS. Higher prevalence of ELCS was associated with breech presentation, other malpresentation, and the mother being over 40 years old. Higher prevalence of EMCS was associated with placenta praevia or placental abruption, diabetes (pre-existing and gestational), and being over 40 years old. The private model of care is associated with ELCS and EMCS rates 6 percentage points higher compared than the public model of care but this differential is insignificant in the fully adjusted models for EMCS. Just over half (53 %) of the 6 percentage point difference in ELCS rates between the two models of care can be accounted for by maternal, clinical and hospital characteristics. Almost 80 % of the difference for EMCS can be accounted for. The majority of the difference in EMCS rates across models of care can be explained by differing characteristics between the two groups of women. The main contributor to the difference was advancing maternal age. The unexplained component of the difference for ELCS is larger; an excess private effect remains after accounting for maternal, clinical, and hospital characteristics. This requires further investigation and may be mitigated in future with the introduction of clinical guidelines related to CS.