University tuition fees for undergraduates were abolished in Ireland in 1996. This paper examines the effect of this reform on the socio-economic gradient to determine whether the reform was successful in achieving its objective of promoting educational equality that is improving the chances of...

This study evaluates a comprehensive university access program that provides financial, academic and social support to low socioeconomic students using a natural experiment which exploits the time variation in the expansion of the program across high schools. Overall, we find positive treatment...

This paper estimates the marginal effect of class size on educational attainment of high school students. We control for the potential endogeneity of class size in two ways using a conventional instrumental variable approach, based on changes in cohort size, and an alternative method where...

This paper estimates the effects of handedness on earnings. Augmenting a conventional earnings equation with an indicator of left-handedness shows there is a positive effect on male earnings with manual workers enjoying a slightly larger premium. These results are inconsistent with the view that...

This paper uses panel data on british manufacturing industries between 1973 and 1985 to examine the relationship between productivity and labour organization. It is shown that the relationship between unions and productivity levels is sensitive to the econometric specification. The evidence...

This Paper examines cross-country variations in the return to schooling for men and women and considers some of the stylised facts that have emerged from the extensive international literature on private returns to schooling. We examine the relationship across countries between these returns and...

This paper exploits an unusual policy reform that had the effect of reducing the direct cost of schooling in Ireland in the late 1960’s. This gave rise to an increased level of schooling but with effects that vary substantially across family background. This interaction of educational reform...

This paper presents an empirical analysis of investment in British industry using data at the industry level and focusing on union effects. The authors find that the rate of investment is around 28 percent lower in firms that recognize unions and have an average union density relative to those...

This paper estimates a simple model of exchange rate policy where the Central Bank optimises an objective function which takes into account competitiveness, its commitment to the EMU and the cost of adjustment. We allow for asymmetry in government behaviour whereby a key parameter, the marginal...