This paper estimates a simple model of exchange rate policy where the Central Bank optimises an objective function which takes into account competitiveness, its commitment to the EMU and the cost of adjustment. We allow for asymmetry in government behaviour whereby a key paremeter, the marginal...

This paper analyses levels of low literacy across twelve countries using the International Adult Literacy Survey. We go beyond existing work that looks at the proportions below certain critical level of literacy. Using methods developed for the measurement of poverty we calculate measures of...

This paper investigates whether teenagers are educationally advantaged if their parents are educators, using data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) for Great Britain and Ireland from 2000. Examining whether teachers’ children do better at tests of reading ability,...

This paper uses a cross-country representative sample of Europeans over the age of 50 to analyse whether individuals’ religiosity is associated with higher levels of well-being as a large number of studies by mental health researchers and economists have suggested. It is shown that in simple...

I show a simple back-of-the-envelope method for calculating marginal effects in binary choice and count data models. The approach suggested here focuses attention on marginal effects at different points in the distribution of the dependent variable rather than representative points in the joint...

I show a simple back-of-the-envelope method for calculating marginal effects in binary choice and count data models. The approach suggested here focuses attention on marginal effects at different points in the distribution of the dependent variable rather than representative points in the joint...

We exploit an unusual policy reform which had the effect of reducing the direct cost of schooling in Ireland in the early 1970's. This gave rise to an increased level of schooling but with effects that vary across family background. This interaction generates a set of instrumental variables...

This paper uses panel data on british manufacturing industries between 1973 and 1985 to examine the relationship between productivity and labour organization. It is shown that the relationship between unions and productivity levels is sensitive to the econometric specification. The evidence...

The level of real wages is one of the key variables-perhaps the key variable-in the economy. Understanding the processes by which wage levels are determined has proved a major task for economists, both theoretical and applied. Much of the effort has taken place within the context of the 'NAIRU'...