Economic and Social Research Institute

About: Economic and Social Research Institute is a nonprofit organization based out in Dublin, Ireland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & European union. The organization has 425 authors who have published 1530 publications receiving 41567 citations.

Fiscal Sustainability When Time Is On Your Side

Abstract: David Cronin and Daniel McCoy observe that, in contrast to most other EU member states, Ireland is fortunate to have time on its side to deal with the fiscal sustainability issues that an ageing population will present This is so both because the Irish economy has had several years of strong economic growth to turn around its macroeconomic performance and to put its fiscal balances in a solid position, and because the demographics are such that Irish policy-makers have over fifteen years to prepare for the ageing of population At the same time, however, the very long-term nature of the problem makes EMU fiscal rules insufficient to provide the incentives to undertake now, in favourable conditions, the policy reforms that would avoid a problem of sustainability and that would become extremely costly if undertaken at a later stage Cronin and McCoy also point out that traditional growth theory suggests that since rules for sustainability involve interest and growth rates, one should take into account the stage of development of the economy to which such rules are applied Therefore, they argue that there is a possibility that an economy with under-utilised resources or underdeveloped capital or deficient infrastructure may need to run larger deficits than allowed for under the Stability and Growth Pact This possibility will become more relevant with the accession of new member states

Evidence on the interjurisdictional competition for polluted industries within China

Abstract: This study examines, with a focus on regional environmental states in China, whether regional latecomers suffer the domestically created ‘pollution haven’ effect through the interjurisdictional competition for polluted industries within China, or enjoy the spillover effect of nationwide progress in environmental management and technology, using the analytical framework of the environmental Kuznets curve. The study found that the regional latecomer's advantage was verified in the case of wastewater, while its disadvantage was identified in waste gas and solid waste. We speculate that the contrasting result on regional latecomer's effects between wastewater, waste gas, and solid waste comes from the difference in policy performances: the well-designed water pollution control may have regional latecomer's enjoy the spillover effect of nationwide progress, while the ineffective control of air and solid waste pollution may cause a ‘pollution haven’ effect through the interjurisdictional competition for polluted industries on regional latecomers.

Identifying childhood deprivation: How well do national indicators of poverty and social exclusion in Ireland Perform?

Abstract: In the context of the significance that the life-cycle has been afforded in social policy discussion in Ireland, current national measures of poverty and social exclusion have been criticised for failing to capture such phenomena accurately in relation to particular stages of the life-course. In this paper we have taken advantage of the inclusion of a special module on childhood deprivation in EU-SILC 2009 to create reliable measures of both household basic deprivation and childhood deprivation. Overall, our analysis leads us to the conclusion that those exposed to childhood deprivation are generally a sub-set of the children captured by population indicators. Adopting a multidimensional and dynamic perspective on household resources and deprivation enables us to capture the large majority of children exposed to childhood deprivation. Restricting our attention to childhood deprivation would lead us to miss out on a significant number of children living in households experiencing basic deprivation but not exposed to childhood deprivation. It would be unwise to assume that such deprivation has no consequences for children. While there is clearly a value in supplementing existing national measures with child specific indicators, it would not appear sensible to rely solely on the latter.

Shaping Educational Expectations: The Perspectives of 13-Year-Olds and Their Parents.

Abstract: Educational expectations and the way in which they shape actual outcomes act as an important vehicle for the intergenerational reproduction of social inequality. This article draws on rich informat...

Segmented Labour Markets and Earnings in Ireland

Abstract: Segmented labour market theory rests on two central tenets. The first is that it is meaningful to distinguish between primary labour markets providing "good" jobs with high wages and stable employment and secondary labour markets providing "bad" jobs with low pay and unstable employment. The second is that jobs in primary labour markets are rationed, with substantial barriers to entry from secondary labour markets. The rationing hypothesis cannot be tested for Ireland with the data available, but here we test the hypothesis that wage determin­ ation differs across sectors, using data from a 1987 ESRI household survey. Two formulations of the segmented labour market model are tested, one distinguishing only primary and secondary sectors and the other distinguishing four sectors employed in recent US research by Gordon. Estimating standard earnings functions for both variants suggests that returns to education are lower in secondary markets, as predicted by segmentation theory, but contrary to the theory's predictions returns to work experience do not differ across sectors. There may be a less clear-cut divide between sectors in European countries than in the USA, partly because of the role of trade unions. The policy implications of adopting a segmented labour market perspective are markedly different from those of human capital theory on some central issues of labour market policy,' so further investigation of that perspective appears warranted.