Reliable measures of obesity are essential in order to develop effective policies to tackle the costs of obesity. We examine what, if anything, we can learn about obesity rates using self-reported BMI once we allow for possible measurement error. Existing approaches that correct for...

This paper uses data on 9 year old Irish children to examine the determinants of mathematical achievement among young children. We find that boys perform better in maths than girls and that this gender gap is driven by differences at the top of the achievement distribution. While there is no...

There is considerable debate about the role of wage rigidity in explaining unemployment. Despite a large body of empirical work, no consensus has emerged on the extent of wage rigidity. Previous attempts to empirically examine wage rigidity have been hampered by small samples and measurement...

In this paper we use a semi-parmaetric procedure developed by DiNardo et al(1996),to examine the distribution of the racial wage gap in the U.S and to examine the extent to which forces underlying this wage gap vary throughout the distribution. In carrying out our analyses, we focus on recent...

This note describes and illustrates a new Stata program, gmmcovearn, that estimates the covariance structure of earnings for a variety of models using the GMM estimator. The program estimates models that incorporate time factor loadings and cohort factor loadings on both the transitory and...

This paper provides a detailed description of recent trends in inequality and poverty in Ireland. To date most of the analysis of inequality and poverty in Ireland has used cross-section data on income. We supplement the information on income with detailed data on individual expenditure taken...

This paper uses data on both self-reported and true measures of individual Body Mass Index (BMI) to examine the nature of measurement error in self-reported BMI and to look at the consequences of using self-reported measures when estimating the effect of BMI on economic outcomes. In keeping with...

Several papers have examined the intergenerational transmission of well being by looking at the relationship between parents' and children's income. However, by concentrating on those who are working these studies exclude some of the very poorest in society, the long-term unemployed. In this...

the persistence of poverty remains a major concern of policy makers. Despite this concern there has been little empirical work examining the issue. In this paper we provide estimates of poverty persistence in the U.K. by examining the degree of intergenerational mobility. Our findings support...

When economists talk about equality, they typically have equality of outcomes, like welfare or income in mind. However such a view of equality is not entirely satisfactory and theories of equality of opportunity have been developed and proposed as an alternative. While there has been some...