This paper traces how the Great Depression was perceived in 1930s Ireland. Perceptions were complicated by internal political developments. Fianna Fáil, upon acceding to power in 1932, rapidly expanded protection and engaged in (near balanced budget) fiscal expansion. Despite the tariff war...

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....

There are relatively few known demand systems that are theoretically satisfactory and practically implementable. This paper considers the possibility of deriving more complex demand systems from simpler known ones by considering sums and products of the component indirect utility functions, an...

Evaluations of programmes — for example, labour market interventions such as employment schemes and training courses — usually involve comparison of the performance of a treatment group (recipients of the programme) with a control group (non-recipients) as regards some response (gaining...

The idea that probability distribution functions could provide appropriate mathematical forms for utility functions representing risk aversion is of respectable antiquity. But the relatively few examples that have appeared in the economics literature have displayed quite restrictive risk...

When “income” in a system of demand equations is defined as total expenditure, actual expenditure on any commodity must lie between zero and income, or equivalently, budget shares must lie between zero and one. But models for expenditures or shares are often the sum of deterministic...

This paper reviews the international literature on house price indices, looking at the basic methodologies employed, the variables chosen for the indices and the functional forms used. Ideas are sought for future improvements to an Irish index and tentative assessments are made of how Irish...

The idea that probability distribution functions could provide appropriate mathematical forms for utility functions representing risk aversion is of respectable antiquity. But the relatively few examples that have appeared in the economics literature have displayed quite restrictive risk...