http://hdl.handle.net/2262/62000 2017-11-03T02:39:55Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/61587 Job generation and regional industrial policy in Ireland Meyler, Aidan; Strobl, Eric Irish industrial policy explicitly encouraged job generation in certain ?designated? areas via, amongst other things, preferential grant treatment, job targets and the building of advance factories in the IDA?s (Industrial Development Authority) regional industrial plans of 1973-1977 and 1978-1982. To assess the impact of these regional plans, this paper compares the employment performance of the designated and the non-designated areas in Ireland since 1972 by employing the job flow methodology pioneered by Davis and Haltiwanger (1992). We find that the convergence in aggregate industrial employment levels between designated and non-designated areas observed since 1972 has been largely driven by a higher rate of job creation without an accompanying higher rate of job destruction in the designated areas. Our econometric study attributes an annual 27 per cent of the job generation in the designated areas during the relevant period to the explicit regional industrial policy. 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/60178 The impact of contracting out on the costs of refuse collection services: the case of Ireland Reeves, Eoin; Barrow, Michael This paper examines the impact of contracting out on the costs incurred by local authorities in providing refuse collection services. Using original survey data for the Republic of Ireland, three methods of estimating the impact of tendering are adopted. Crude comparisons of costs before and after tendering and the costs of local authorities versus private contractors indicate that tendering can yield savings of between 34 and 45 per cent. Using multivariate regression analysis to enable us to control for service characteristics confirms cost savings of around 45 per cent. The bulk of these cost savings are attributed to real efficiency gains as a result of contracting out. 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z