Now showing 1 - 10 of 38
  • Publication
    Social capital and self-rated health in the Republic of Ireland : evidence from the European Social Survey
    (Irish Medical Association, 2007-09) ; ;
    This paper analyses the determinants of self-reported health in Ireland, conditioning self-reported health on a set of socio-economic, labour market and social capital variables. Ireland has the highest self-reported health rate in Europe, a finding backed-up by other studies. Data were derived from the 2002 and 2005 European Social survey. The full 87,915 observations from both rounds were pooled and used to estimate mean self-rated health across Europe. The Irish data were isolated, totalling 2,049 individuals for 2002 and 2,286 individuals for 2005. The 2002 data were used to analyse the determinants of subjective health state, as it had a richer array of social capital variables. The results demonstrate statistically significant effects of income on self-reported health that are robust to different statistical specifications and statistically significant though modest effects of social capital variables such as associational membership and frequency of social meeting and labour market variables such as being on a limited as opposed to permanent contract.
      1827
  • Publication
    The Irish non-voter : evidence from the Irish National Election Study and Living in Ireland surveys
    (University College Dublin. Geary Institute, 2005)
    This paper analyses the determinants of voting abstention and voting intention utilising data from the Irish National Election Study (INES) and the Living in Ireland survey. We find a marked age effect (younger people less likely to vote) that is similar in magnitude across both cross-sectional results obtained from the INES and panel results obtained from the Living in Ireland survey. Additionally, we find an inverse relationship between education and likelihood of abstention that is similar in magnitude across the panel and cross-section. We find a number of social capital variables to be negatively related to abstention. We also model the determinants of abstention including variables such as political interest; feelings of duty; confidence in the Dáil; and feelings of guilt surrounding non-voting. Inclusion of these variables renders many of the above social capital variables insignificant. However, the effect of age remains significant in all models.
      530
  • Publication
    Irish public service broadcasting : a contingent valuation analysis
    (Economic and Social Studies, 2004) ;
    Irish public service broadcasting faces enhanced domestic and international competition and increasingly the Irish public service broadcaster (RTÉ) is being called upon to justify the scale of the television licence fee, its major source of funding. This paper describes the first nationwide valuation of RTÉ’s services. In analysing the determinants of respondents’ willingness to pay for RTÉ’s services, the importance of domestic and international competing services and the relationships between willingness to pay for, usage of, and satisfaction with, RTÉ’s services are analysed. In addition, this paper highlights the importance of distinguishing between household, and individual, willingness to pay.
      1201
  • Publication
    Perception of excessive drinking among Irish college students : a mixed methods analysis
    (University College Dublin. Geary Institute, 2007-05-08) ; ; ; ;
    This paper examines students’ perceptions of excessive drinking using statistical vignettes based on standard alcohol misuse markers used in the WHO Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Quantitative analyses revealed stark heterogeneity in students’ perceptions of alcohol excess both in terms of their own self-rated excessiveness and in terms of their general conceptions of excessiveness. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of focus group data with student drinkers revealed four themes mediating perception of excess: Perception of Normal Drinking; Perceived Indicators of Excess; Reactions to Alcohol Guidelines; Justifications for Excessive Alcohol Consumption.
      1445
  • Publication
    Behavioural economics and drinking behaviour : preliminary results from an Irish college study
    (University College Dublin. Geary Institute, 2007-01-31) ; ;
    This paper examines the results of single-equation regression models of the determinants of alcohol consumption patterns among college students modelling a rich variety of covariates including gender, family and peer drinking, tenure, personality, risk perception, time preferences and age of drinking onset. The results demonstrate very weak income effects and very strong effects of personality, peer drinking (in particular closest friend), time preferences and other substance use. The task of future research is to verify these results and assess causality using more detailed methods.
      381
  • Publication
      292
  • Publication
    Public perceptions of the dioxin crisis in Irish pork
    (University College Dublin. Geary Institute, 2009-06) ; ; ;
    In early December 2008, a global recall of Irish pork was initiated as a result of a subset of the national pork output being contaminated with dioxin. In this study, members of a panel from an internet-based longitudinal monitor of public opinion on food and health, was used to assess public perceptions about the dioxin incident in late December. A larger proportion of respondents reported that that there was a ‘very high’ health risk from pork (8.6 %) than any other food of animal origin. The risk posed to human health from dioxins was considered to be relatively high compared to a broad range of potential food and non-food risks. The majority of respondents (70.5 %) accepted that the way in which the authorities managed the crisis was ‘adequate’ or ‘very efficient’. These findings should be considered in light of the following facts: the European Food Safety Authority and the Irish authorities announced that there was no risk to human health from the dioxins in pork, there was extensive media attention about the dioxin incident, and the Irish Government had to introduce a 200 million euro compensation package for the Irish pork industry which was funded by the Irish taxpayer.
      1342
  • Publication
    Risk attitudes as an independent predictor of debt
    (University College Dublin. Geary Institute, 2010-09-17) ; ;
    This paper examines how attitudes to risk relate to other psychological constructs of personality and consideration of future consequences (a proxy for time preferences) and how risk attitudes relate to credit behaviour and debt holdings. There is a small correlation between risk attitudes and consideration of future consequences. As regards personality, risk attitudes are most positively related to extraversion and openness to experience and are negatively related to neuroticism. Risk willingness is a robust predictor of debt holdings even controlling for demographics, personality, consideration of future consequences and other covariates.
      885
  • Publication
    The early childhood determinants of time preferences
    (University College Dublin. Geary Institute, 2008-12-15) ;
    Research on time preference formation and socioeconomic differences in discounting has received little attention to date. This article examines the extent to which early childhood differences emerge in measures of hyperactivity, impulsivity and persistence, all of which are good psychometric analogues to how economists conceptualise discounting. We examine the distribution of these traits measured at age three across parental social class and analyse the extent to which different mechanism plausibly generate the observed social class distribution. In addition, we control for a wide ranging of potentially mediating factors including parental investment and proxies for maternal time preferences. Our results show substantial social class variations across all measures. We find only weak evidence that this relates to differential maternal time preferences (e.g. savings behaviour, abstaining from smoking) but relatively stronger evidence that these traits are transmitted through the parents own non-cognitive skill set (self-esteem, attachment etc.) and parental time investments (e.g. time spent reading to the child and teaching the child to write, sing etc.).
      728
  • Publication
    Decomposing demand for public expenditure in Ireland
    (University College Dublin. Geary Institute, 2005-12-04) ;
    This paper, via the analysis of stated preferences from a nationwide representative survey of 1,100 adults, examines the determinants of preferences for overall government expenditure and estimates a Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) model of demand for the three major categories of public expenditures in Ireland, namely, social welfare, education and health. Those on higher incomes are less in favour of government expenditure overall. However, and consistent with the available evidence on the utilisation and financing of the three main categories of government expenditures, decomposing the preferences demonstrates that those on higher incomes are particularly less in favour of social welfare expenditure but more in favour of spending on health and education.
      403