Can improving local infrastructure in underdeveloped areas encourage entrepreneurial activity? If so, which infrastructures and by how much? This paper analyses the impact on new business establishments of broadband infrastructure, motorways, airports and railways and a range of other local...

This research examines the impact of a home energy efficiency upgrade programme on social housing tenants. Employing a quasi-experimental approach we examine a range of self-reported and objectively measured outcomes, including metered gas consumption, for a control and upgrade group, before and...

In order to better understand the potential for both policy and technological improvements to aid carbon abatement, long-term historical information on the time-path of transition from more traditional to cleaner fuels is useful. Knowing how this varies by socio-economic, demographic and...

The paper uses a multinomial logit model to study the determinants of domestic space heating systems in Ireland. Nine types of heating systems are considered, classified by fuel type (liquid, electric, gas and solids or combinations thereof). Heating system choice is modelled as a function of...

This paper tests whether households that are offered broadband service for the first time tend to delay in taking it up. Using cross-sectional data on broadband take-up and socioeconomic characteristics of small areas in Ireland, linked to GIS data on ADSL availability, I find that local...

This paper examines how local government planning regulations and charges affect the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure. We explore the economic rationale for local government regulation of such infrastructure, which we suggest should be based on managing negative externalities....

This paper combines data from a government programme providing broadband access to primary schools in Ireland with survey microdata on schools', teachers' and pupils use of the internet to examine the links between public subsidies, classroom use of the internet and educational performance....

Despite ongoing efforts by regulatory authorities, there is significant noncompliance with the EU Nitrates Directive among farms in Ireland. Nutrient pollution harms water quality and ecosystems, and farms are subject to fines for noncompliance. This paper examines reasons for noncompliance and...

Governments throughout the western world and beyond are in the midst of a severe financial crisis and emerging from a sharp recession. Ireland is no exception. One of the options for strengthening public finances is the sale of state assets. In this paper we draw on the Irish experience to...

Under European Union proposals for CO2 emission reduction between 2013 and 2020, a Member State can transfer to another Member State the right to use its unused Clean Development Mechanism ('CDMs') credits. The paper addresses three issues in relation to these CDM Warrants ('CDMW'). First, how...