Perceptions and forecasts of inflation have the potential to impact on a range of economic outcomes. We reveal large, systematic overestimation of inflation by Irish consumers, which varies by social group. In contrast to previous work in this area, our models suggest the upward bias and the...

The role of employer discrimination in labour market matching is often acknowledged but challenging to quantify. What part of the ‘ethnic penalty’ in the labour market is due to recruitment discrimination? This experiment, the first of its kind in Ireland, explicitly measured this...

This paper critically examines initial applications of Behavioural Economics (BE) to policymaking. It focuses primarily but not exclusively on what can be learnt from the early adopters of policies inspired by BE, notably America and Britain. BE is defined by its inductive scientific approach to...

Recall data from a representative sample of 3080 adults in Ireland in 2003 is used to investigate transitions into and out of regular participation in sports and exercise - an important contributor to overall physical activity. The method produces a continuous picture of participation across the...

We examine the impact of participation in sport at secondary school on post-school pathways using a survey of Irish school-leavers, distinguishing between those who dropped out of sport during their secondary school years and those who continued playing in their final school years. We find that...

The unique characteristics of Brian O?Driscoll?s international rugby career provide a rare opportunity to obtain a measure of the impact of an individual player on the outcome of a team game. Generally, small samples and selection bias make such estimates unreliable. O?Driscoll, however, was an...

Achieving value for money in public expenditure is a key issue, whatever the state of the economic cycle. Its importance is even more marked in the present situation. In order to attain this, we must have a clear idea of the objectives of particular expenditure programmes, and of the extent to...