Monthly Archives: August 2011

School uniforms and student behaviour

Posted on August 31, 2011 by

As schools re-open, there has been a lot of attention on the costs to parents even where their children are in “free” schools such as the cost of books and not-so-voluntary contributions. One cost is school uniforms and an obvious … Continue reading →

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Fear of unemployment and well-being

Posted on August 30, 2011 by

Given the high rate of unemployment and the prevailing economic uncertainty, one might wonder what the effect of the macroeconomy is on people’s mental health. The paper below, which has just been released, uses German data to address this question. … Continue reading →

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Alan Krueger in the White House

Posted on August 29, 2011 by

It has been announced that Alan Krueger has been nominated as the new chair of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, an important position. Kruger’s work on labour markets, education and other areas of applied economics is very well … Continue reading →

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Moral hazard & vitamin pills

Posted on August 27, 2011 by

Because the question of debt forgiveness has become extremely topical in Ireland, suddenly everyone these days seems to be talking about moral hazard. In case you have been hiding in your bunker for the last few months, this refers to … Continue reading →

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The effect of parents’ divorce on their kids’ level of trust

Posted on August 26, 2011 by

Parental divorce, it is not hard to imagine, could have a big ( & presumably negative) effect on their children. This paper looks at its effect on their level of trust and finds it does indeed have a negative effect. … Continue reading →

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Entry into medical school

Posted on August 25, 2011 by

The Irish Times today has a letter today on entry to medical school. Since it is short I include it in full below followed by my comments. I emphasize that while I disagree with the correspondent, I am not “picking … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Policy, research | 6 Comments

Ireland’s PISA results: myth and reality

Posted on August 22, 2011 by

I posted the entry below on the old Geary blog in January but given the recent fuss about the so called “maths crisis” it seemed worth reprising. The recent results from the PISA surveys have got a lot of attention. … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Policy | 6 Comments
Posted on August 21, 2011 by
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Das (erotische) kapital

Posted on August 20, 2011 by

In the beginning there was capital. Capital was plant & machinery, land, vehicles, real stuff you know. People estimated production functions, regressing output on labour and capital or, if you wanted to be sophisticated, there were KLEM models (capital, labour, … Continue reading →

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Problems with the universities admissions system in Ireland

Posted on August 19, 2011 by

The Irish Times today has an article by myself and Colm Harmon on problems with our universities admissions system.

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