by Martina Lawless, Zuzanna Studnicka
March, 2018

This paper examines the patterns of cross-border trade on the island of Ireland, focusing on the role of supply chain links, measured by the extent of trade in intermediate products and the contribution to overall trade of two-way trading firms (those simultaneously importing and exporting). We use detailed firm-level trade records to examine the composition, specialisation and dynamism of trading firms. … Continued

by Roger Farmer, Pawel Zabczyk
March, 2018

We refer to the idea that government must ‘tighten its belt’ as a necessary policy response to higher indebtedness as the household fallacy. We provide a reason to be skeptical of this claim that holds even if the economy always operates at full employment and all markets clear. Our argument rests on the fact that, … Continued

by Sylvain Bouyon, Simon Krause
March, 2018

The growing choice of payment services should be good news for consumers, but only if they have complete information about the products being sold and the prices charged by each firm. Several policy options are under discussion for better regulation of the dynamic currency conversion (DCC) payment service, each of which offers specific advantages but … Continued

by Maritza López-Novella
March, 2018

Between April 2013 and January 2015, youth sub-minimum wage rates were repealed in Belgium. We identify the impact of the reform by comparing outcomes before and after the withdrawal, across eligible and ineligible categories of young workers, and across abolishing and not abolishing joint committees. Our results show that the reform had a small positive … Continued

by Nathan Hudson-Sharp, Naomi Munro-Lott, Heather Rolfe, Johnny Runge
March, 2018

This report examines the impact of the welfare reform and welfare-to-work programmes introduced by the 2010–15 Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition Government and the Conservative Government elected in May 2015. A particular aim of the review was to examine the evidence about the ways in which protected groups, and subsets of these, for example lone parents, have … Continued

by Iulia Siedschlag, Mattia Di Ubaldo, Manuel Tong Koecklin
March, 2018

This study provides background analysis for the European Commission’s Country Report – Ireland 2018 in the context of the European Semester. Specifically, the analysis focuses on the following issues: A comparative analysis of the performance of indigenous and foreign-owned firms, in particular with respect to employment and productivity as well as their sectoral and regional patterns; Investment in R&D and innovation in … Continued