http://hdl.handle.net/2262/62014 2017-11-03T02:45:39Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/61990 Household consumption patterns, indirect tax structures and implications for indirect tax harmonisation: a three country perspective Kaplanoglou, Georgia The paper compares the indirect tax structures and consumption patterns of three European countries (the UK, Greece and Hungary) and studies the likely distributional impact of a potential convergence of their indirect tax systems by exploiting the rich source of Family Expenditure Survey microdata of these countries. The results reveal a southern/northern distinction in expenditure patterns, while, in terms of tax systems and inequality, the common history of a market economy within the European Union shared by the UK and Greece proves to be a strong determinant of common structures. Over the last decade indirect tax structures among the three countries converged, at the same time loosing part of their redistributive power. Indirecttax harmonisation towards a simple system of, for example, the UK type might reduce inequality. 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/61370 Changes in relative consumer prices and the substitution bias of the Laspeyres price index: Ireland, 1985-2001 Somerville, R. A. This paper shows that Irish relative consumer prices have changed significantly, 1985-2001, at the ten commodity-group level. A ?true? cost-of-living index is derived from Madden?s (1993) parameter estimates for an Almost Ideal Demand System. Despite relative price changes, the substitution bias of a computed Laspeyres index is small, and the official Consumer Price Index tracks the computed index closely. Superlative indices are also constructed, but are not satisfactory cost-of-living indices in this context. Cost-of-living indices are computed for different income groups, and the impact of inflation in recent years is found to be negatively correlated with income. 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/60726 Women returning to employment, education and training in Ireland: an analysis of transitions Russell, Helen; O'Connell, Philip J. Recent improvements in the Irish labour market have led to a substantial increase in the labour force participation rate of women in Ireland. Part of this increase has been fuelled by women moving from the home into paid employment. Much of the existing research on labour market activity among Irish women has focused on cross-sectional analyses of the stock of labour market participants. In this paper we aim to address some of the gaps in the literature by investigating the transition from home to work, and from home to education, training and employment schemes among women in Ireland during the period 1994 to 1999. We adopt a dynamic approach by drawing on the nationally representative longitudinal data in the Living in Ireland Survey. This allows us to provide, for the first time, a representative profile of returners, and to formally model the transition process in terms of supply and demand factors. The analysis also investigates the factors associated with the return to part-versus full-time work. Our analysis reveals that about one-quarter of those engaged full-time in home duties in 1994 had made a transition to paid work within the six-year period 1994-1999. The study identifies a number of key factors that influence the transition from home to work or education, training and employment schemes, including, on the supply side, age, education, previous work experience, time out of the labour force, and the presence of young children in the household, and on the demand side, macro-economic conditions and urban versus rural residence. 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/60723 State, competition and industrial change in Ireland 1991-1999 O Riain, Sean As job losses increased rapidly in 2003 amid calls for increased competitiveness, it becomes all the more crucial to understand the character and causes of such industrial upgrading that did occur in Ireland in the 1990s. This paper argues that despite a continuing reliance on foreign investment, there were significant elements of local industrial upgrading within the Irish economy in the 1990s. Contrary to perspectives which emphasise the learning effects associated with foreign firms, the paper suggests that such upgrading only emerged when and where local and national institutions were established to support relations of innovation and organisational development. The current difficulties in the Irish economy can be traced in significant part to the failure to deepen and extend this emergent system of innovation. The emphasis on `competitiveness? in contemporary policy debate threatens to undermine the public investment, social relations and collective institution building that have been, and will continue to be, central to industrial upgrading in Ireland. 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z