In my contribution to this Symposium I wish to explore two main themes. The first deals with the contribution of education to economic growth at the macro level. In this part I shall discuss the evidence of the importance of eduaction - or human capital formation - as a determinant of the...

This paper studies the effect on Anglo-Irish trade breaking the link between the Irish pound and sterling in 1979. A gravity model is used to explore this issue. No evidence is found of a structural break following the dismantling of the currency union. Nor did the resultant exchange rate...

This paper reviews previous research on Irish unemployment. It examines the reasons for the persistence of high unemployment and the relevence of the concept of a time-varying rate of "equilibrium" unemployment in a small labour market. The links between Irish and British unemployment, and the...

The objective of this paper is to quantify and decompose the socioeconomic gradient in childhood obesity in the Republic of Ireland. The analysis is performed using data from the first wave of the Growing Up in Ireland survey, a nationally representative survey of 8568 nine-year-old children...