Contingent valuation has been used extensively in estimating the value of environmental goods. One criticism of this approach, however, is that respondents in referendum-style contingent valuation surveys may express citizen assessments that take into account benefits to others rather than...

This paper provides a single welfare measure to show the effects of consumer price changes upon households in Ireland between 1999 and 2010. This measure combines an efficiency component using a Linear Expenditure System (LES) and an equity component using the Atkinson Social Welfare Function....

As in many other developed countries, Ireland has experienced a postponement of maternity. Whilst a number of authors have commented on this trend, suggesting greater female participation in the workforce results in delayed maternity, to date little research has tested this proposition. We...

Using statistical matching techniques, economists can now create attribute rich datasets by matching across the common variables in two or more datasets. The farm level spatial microsimulation model developed in this paper uses one of many combinational optimisation techniques – simulated...

More than 10 years ago O’Donoghue (2001a) surveyed the dynamic microsimulation models that had been developed up to that point. However many of the barriers mentioned have been gradually overcome in the last decade . This paper surveys the development and practices in dynamic microsimulation...

The economic reality of the 1990s in Europe forced the labour markets to become more flexible. Using a consistent comparative dataset for 14 European countries, the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), we explore the evolution and the cross-national differences in earnings mobility across...

The concerns regarding the economic insecurity stemming from earnings instability have been gaining momentum in the contemporary political discourse. If earnings instability is as a proxy for risk, for risk-averse individuals, increasing earnings instability bears substantial welfare costs....

Using a fully harmonized panel dataset across 14 European countries between the early- 1990s and 2001, the European Community Household Panel, we fill a gap in the literature with a cross-national comparative study which explores the trends in persistent inequality and transitory inequality...

Benefits and taxes vary greatly across the European Union owing to incongruent welfare and taxation systems. This paper analyzes how welfare states achieve insurance and equity objectives for residents who work in other countries. The aim is to evaluate the impact of unemployment benefits and...

Alignment is a widely adopted technique in the field of microsimulation for social and economic policy research. However, limited research has been devoted to the understanding of their simulation properties. This paper discusses and evaluates six common alignment algorithms used in the dynamic...