http://hdl.handle.net/2262/62040 2013-05-12T21:17:22Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58455 Title: The distributional effects of Value Added Tax in Ireland Author: Leahy, Eimear; Lyons, Sean; TOL, RICHARD S. J. Abstract: In this paper we examine the distributional effects of Value Added Tax (VAT) in Ireland. Using the 2004/2005 Household Budget Survey, we assess the amount of VAT that households pay as a proportion of weekly disposable income. We measure VAT payments by equivalised income decile, households of different composition and different household sizes. The current system is highly regressive. With the use of a micro-simulation model we also estimate the impact of changing the VAT rate on certain groups of items and the associated change in revenue. We also consider how the imposition of a flat rate across all goods and services would affect households in different categories. The Irish Government has recently announced that it proposes to increase the standard rate of VAT to 22 per cent in 2013 and to 23 per cent in 2014. We examine the distributional implications of such increases. The general pattern of results shows that those hardest hit are households in the first income decile, households in rural areas, 6 person households and households containing a single adult with children. Description: Policy paper 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58451 Title: Mr Whitaker and industry: setting the record straight – a reply to Barry and Daly Author: Walsh, Patrick Paul; Whelan, Ciara Abstract: The turnaround in economic policy from the late 1950s was remarkable. Protectionism was abandoned and exporting incentivised. As Barry and Daly (2011) admit, 'Conventional wisdom accords the bulk of the credit for the turnaround in policy to Seán Lemass, Minister for Industry and Commerce in most Fianna Fáil governments since 1932 and Taoiseach from 1959 to 1966, and T. K. Whitaker, Secretary of the Department of Finance from 1956 to 1969.' Their main agenda is to set the record straight about the role of Mr. Whitakerin this historical turnaround in economic policy in Ireland. Their bottom line: Conventional wisdom is wrong. They attempt to illustrate this through a critique of our Walsh and Whelan (2010) paper. In our response to their paper we wish to address three issues. First, outline the real essence of our paper; secondly defend our analytical frameworks; and finally, place their new thesis on the role of Whitaker in economic policy during the “long 1950s” in the context of our paper and mainstream beliefs. 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58446 Title: Mr. Whitaker and industry: setting the record straight Author: Barry, Frank; Daly, Mary E. Abstract: After 16 years of unbroken Fianna Fáil rule, the first four of the five general elections of the period 1948-1963 saw sitting governments unseated. Economic policy pivoted: protectionism was abandoned; foreign direct investment welcomed and an application for membership was made to the EEC. Whitaker’s Economic Development appeared in 1958. Lemass took over from de Valera as Taoiseach in 1959. The ‘long 1950s’ remains of enduring fascination to Irish historians. 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58417 Title: The Impact of government policy on private car ownership in Ireland Author: Hennessy, Hugh; TOL, RICHARD S. J. Abstract: We construct a model of the stock of private cars in the Republic of Ireland. The model distinguishes cars by fuel, engine size and age. The modelled car stock is built up from a long history of data on sales, and calibrated to recent data on actual stock. We complement the data on the number of cars with data on fuel efficiency and distance driven ��� which together give fuel use and emissions ��� and the costs of purchase, ownership and use. We use the model to project the car stock from 2010 to 2025. The following results emerge. The 2009 reform of the vehicle registration and motor tax has led to a dramatic shift from petrol to diesel cars. Fuel efficiency has improved and will improve further as a result, but because diesel cars are heavier, carbon dioxide emissions are reduced but not substantially so. The projected emissions in 2020 are roughly the same as in 2007. In a second set of simulations, we impose the government targets for electrification of transport. As all-electric vehicles are likely to displace small, efficient, and little-driven petrol cars, the effect on carbon dioxide emissions is minimal. We also consider the scrappage scheme,which has little effect as it applies to a small fraction of the car stock only. 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58416 Title: What have we learnt about pay for performance? Author: Prendergast, Canice Abstract: Governance is a central concern of economics. In much of economic activity, relevant principals (firms, voters, government agencies, and so on) delegate decisions to agents who may not have the interests of those principals at heart. Much of the literature in microeconomics of the last two decades has been concerned with the issue – what mechanisms can firms use to attempt to align interests? That such concerns are important hardly needs to be emphasised in the current Irish economic environment, where concerns of excessive lending by the banking sector have resulted in many claims about compensation and oversight. The purpose of this lecture is to overview the literature on one mechanism that has been proposed for solving agency concerns – pay for performance – but to place it in the context of other forms of governance. Description: Geary Lecture Winter 2010 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58415 Title: Economic regulation: recentralisation of power or improved quality of regulation? Author: Gorecki, Paul K. Abstract: The October 2009 Government Statement on Economic Regulation proposes a number of sensible reforms that are likely to improve regulatory performance in energy, airports, telecommunications, postal services and transport. However, the Government Statement also proposes to reduce the independence of regulators by holding them to account through a whole series of additional mechanisms, some of which are informal and lack transparency, while at the same time instructing regulators to take into account evolving/current – possible transient – priorities. There are good reasons for preserving and strengthening rather than undermining regulatory independence. For example, it facilitates investment in long-lived assets with a large element of sunk or irrecoverable investment, a common characteristic of network sectors. The Government Statement’s unexplained move to reduce regulators’ independence finds no support in either the government commissioned background report prepared by the Economic Intelligence Unit, Review of the Regulatory Environment in Ireland, or recent European Union legislation on energy and telecommunications regulation. Indeed, these sources are strongly in favour of regulatory independence. Two, not necessarily mutually exclusive explanations, for reducing regulatory independence are discussed: to remove an anomaly in the Irish political system; and, to assist in the delivery of social partnership. The paper concludes by arguing that some thought might be given to public consultation of the reforms in the Government Statement prior to further implementation. Description: Policy paper 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z