The authors use the European Union-wide tax--benefit model, EUROMOD, to establish baseline rates of relative poverty in 1998 for each of the Member States and then explore their sensitivity to (a) an increase in unemployment, (b) real income growth and (c) an increase in earnings inequality....

Tax systems are expected to achieve many things at once and this paper discusses the trade-offs involved in attempting to reconcile conflicting aims. It surveys the various instruments that are used to take account of marriage and the presence of children and describes the current systems in the...

As in many other developed countries, Ireland has experienced a postponement of maternity. Whilst a number of authors have commented on this trend, suggesting greater female participation in the workforce results in delayed maternity, to date little research has tested this proposition. We...