This paper combines a literature identifying the sources of productivity growth with a literature exploring differences between the characteristics of exporters and non-exporters to examine the contributions of exporters and non-exporters to aggregate labour productivity growth in the Irish...

This paper examines the causal relationship between foreign mergers and acquisitions and firm productivity in the UK over the period 1999-2007. Our results raise questions about the existence of aggregate effects of foreign ownership on TFP in the longer-run. However, we find significant...

The measurement of academic output in Ireland is of growing interest in the context of the government's strategy to identify and support centres of research excellence and to encourage inter-institutional collaboration in both research and fourth- level education. This paper looks at research...

Recent economic literature suggests the importance of sunk costs and hysteresis in explaining export patterns in international trade. To explore their empirical importance, we present a new conceptual framework that distinguishes six different types of exporter behaviour, and apply this...

This paper argues that it is important for public sector reform to be undertaken in tandem with economic reform because the two reform agendas overlap. Ignoring the overlap could lead to services being delivered efficiently but which do not contribute to economic and social progress or represent...

This paper provides empirical evidence on Ireland's export performance in the context of increased globalisation over the past ten years. Using insights from recent contributions to international trade and economic growth theories, we first examine patterns and changes of revealed comparative...

In this paper, we study the impact of energy taxes and the EU ETS on a large number of firms in Europe between 1996 and 2007. Using company level micro-data, we examine how firms in different sectors were affected by environmental policies. Aspects of behaviour and performance studied include...