This paper considers Ireland's banking crisis from the perspective of behavioural economics. It assesses whether known biases in judgement and decision-making were instrumental in the development and severity of the crisis. It investigates evidence that key decision-makers, including consumers,...

In the absence of longitudinal data, recall data is used to examine participation in sport. Techniques of survival analysis are adapted and applied to illuminate the dynamics of sporting life. The likelihood of participation has a distinct pattern across the life-course, rising to a peak at 15...

Many households lack savings to cushion them from financial shocks. While behavioural economics offers insights into why some households who want to save may fail to do so, successful behavioural interventions to increase precautionary saving are elusive. We incorporated multiple evidence-based...

In this study, a large, representative sample of the Irish population undertook a multiple-choice quiz about climate change. The 10-minute quiz was designed to engage participants and to measure their understanding, not of facts and figures, but of the scientific relationships behind climate...

Five hundred young people (aged 16 to 24 years) took part in a short, online study about the environment. The study focused on knowledge and beliefs about climate change mitigation. We recorded the climate-friendly behaviours young people in Ireland report engaging in, as well as their knowledge...

The present research investigates how consumers engage with the Irish financial retail market when choosing and switching financial products. Data were gathered from a nationally representative sample of 2,903 individuals who are involved in their household financial decisions. The study used...

Mitigating climate change requires large and, by historical standards, rapid changes to policy, business processes and individual behaviour. This report examines awareness of and perceived difficulty with individual behaviour change with respect to two actions associated with high levels of...

Customers who have financial products (e.g., bank accounts, loans, credit cards and mortgages) are unlikely to change to another provider or change the terms of the product within the same provider (i.e., to "switch"). Significant monetary gains can be made by switching, but switching rates tend...

We critically examine and empirically test the hypothesis that the strong socioeconomic gradients characterising attendance at arts events result from similar gradients in preferences for the arts, in line with existing theories of demand for the arts derived from orthodox consumer theory. To...

How people perceive and forecast inflation has 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...