We use a translog cost function to model production in the Irish manufacturing sector over the period from 1991 to 2009. We estimate both own- and cross-price elasticities and Morishima elasticities of substitution between capital, labour, materials and energy. We find that capital and energy...

Special Policy Issue: Convergence and Integration of the New Member States to the Euro Area

Using plant level data from the Irish Census of Industrial Production, this paper documents the extent of the productivity spread in Irish manufacturing industries and its determinants. It looks at changes in the distribution of productivity over the period 1995-2004 and at movements of plants...

We use micro data on Irish producer prices to provide clean evidence on pricing-to-market across a broad range of manufacturing sectors. We have monthly observations on prices charged by the same plant for the same product to buyers in Ireland and the UK, two markets segmented by variable...

Aggregate exports are not very responsive to real exchange rates, though they re- spond strongly to trade liberalizations, a fact sometimes referred to as the International Elasticity Puzzle. We use micro data on firms and exports for Ireland to dissect the puzzle. Our identification strategy...

We establish a set of stylised facts for trade and trading firms in five market services sectors using comparable firm- and activity-level data from four EU countries. Our analysis shows that exports account for much lower shares of overall sales in the services sectors than in manufacturing....