Economics - Journal Articles
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Item Do social resources moderate the negative association between financial hardship and life satisfaction in Ireland?(Economic and Social Review, 2024-03-25) Walsh, EdelFinancial hardship represents a significant stressor that can have detrimental consequences for individual well-being. Using a large sample from the European Social Survey (n=13,597), this study aims to confirm the negative association between financial hardship and life satisfaction for Ireland, and to test whether a set of personal social resources (social meetings, personal religiosity and political trust) moderate that negative association. The results confirm that financial hardship is negatively associated with life satisfaction. Social resources are directly associated with higher levels of life satisfaction. Meeting socially with others represents the largest effect on individual well-being and is significant in moderating the harmful effects of financial hardship for some individuals. Religiosity and political trust also have significant, positive associations with life satisfaction and are found to buffer against the harmful impact of financial hardship for some individuals. This study has important implications for understanding the correlates of subjective well-being in Ireland.Item COVID-19 infections and short-run worker performance: Evidence from European football(Elsevier B.V., 2023-12-19) Butler, David; Butler, Robert; Farnell, Alex; Simmons, RobertCOVID-19 infections represent a recurrent source of workplace absenteeism impacting labour productivity. Using a unique matched employee-employer dataset, we consider the effects of the virus on the performance of highly valuable employees when returning to work: professional footballers in the top five European leagues. This offers a window to study job scheduling and managerial decision-making. We employ a difference-in-differences (DiD) model that compares the performance of infected players to a matched control group for game tasks that require physical exertion. Results suggest that per-minute performance is unaffected upon returning to play. This is likely due to effective management of minutes on the pitch. We carry out a battery of checks on the primary results to consider causal mechanisms outside of infection that could impact the results such as lockdown breaks, clusters within squads, and scheduling effects. The findings carry an optimistic message and specifically speak to managers supervising physical labour. If appropriately managed, infected workers can return to past performance levels.Item Domestic macroeconomic determinants of precious metals prices in developed and emerging economies: An international analysis of the long and short run(Elsevier, 2023-07-23) Rana, Hafiz Muhammad Usman; O'Connor, FergalThis study examines the relationship between domestic macroeconomic factors and domestic precious metals prices across developed and emerging markets from 1979 to 2020. The statistical characteristics of the domestic variables are not found to be consistent across countries, so that these relationships cannot be modelled in one specific way. To model each metal domestically, we use various time series techniques as dictated by the combined characteristics of the domestic variables. The findings of this analysis reveal relationships that are not consistent across countries or precious metals. No consistent set of variables is found to exist that can explain either the short or the long run determinants of domestic precious metals prices, and there is no clear divide between developed or emerging markets. Any model of the determinants of a precious metal's domestic price requires individual handling by the practitioners or academics undertaking it, rather than assuming a single set of determinants as is frequently doneItem A multilevel approach to firm interrelationships across European regions(Taylor & Francis Group, 45104) O’Leary, Daragh; Doran, Justin; Power, Bernadette; Irish Research CouncilPolicymakers attempt to foster entrepreneurship within European regions yet firm interrelationships across European regions remain understudied. This paper analyses the extent to which past firm births and deaths influence future firm births and deaths across European NUTS 2 regions through the lens of competition, multiplier and Marshall effects. Using a novel multilevel mixed effects regression model, we find evidence for an immediate multiplier effect changing to a competition effect as time passes across European regions and countries. We also identify that significant variations in firm birth and death rates exist across European regions validating the importance of more decentralized regional entrepreneurial policies which has implications for policies like the European Regional Development Fund’s (ERDF) Cohesion Plan and the Smart Specialization Strategy.Item A two-tiered public-private health system: Who stays in (private) hospitals in Ireland?(Elsevier B.V., 2020-06-14) Murphy, Aileen; Bourke, Jane; Turner, BrianDespite efforts to create a universal, single-tiered Irish health system, an unequal "two-tiered" system persists. The future blueprint for Irish health care, Sláintecare, recommends a separation of public and private hospital treatment. This study examines patterns of overall and private hospital utilisation in Ireland that could help identify some of the impacts of the proposed separation of public and private hospital treatment. Using data from EU-SILC (2016) (n = 10,131) the factors associated with inpatient hospitalisation and private inpatient hospitalisation are estimated using probit models. Unsurprisingly, those who are economically inactive are more likely to have had an inpatient stay. Furthermore, those aged over 65, with a chronic illness, with a medical/ GP visit card and private health insurance and those with only private health insurance are also more likely to have had an inpatient stay. Those with only primary education are less likely to report an inpatient stay in private hospital. Those aged over 25 and less than 65, those with a medical/ GP visit card and private health insurance and those with only private health insurance are significantly more likely to opt for a private hospital. Understanding overall and private hospital utilisation patterns is imperative for implementing universal health care and associated resource planning and fulfilling policy recommendations.