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 article examines the time path of broadband adoption for households in areas that are offered broadband service for the first time and the socioeconomic characteristics of broadband users generally. Using cross-sectional data on broadband take-up and socioeconomic characteristics of small...

We analyse the distributional impact of financing energy and environmental policies through additional charges on electricity consumption, focussing on the impact Ireland’s flat-rate Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy has on domestic consumers. Switching Ireland’s flate-rate charge to a...

This paper derives efficient pricing formulae for renewable energy Feed-in Tariff (FiT) designs that incorporate exposure to uncertain market prices by using option pricing theory. Such FiT designs are presented as a means to delineate market price risk amongst investors and policymakers when...

Does the housing market reflect cultural heritage? We estimate several specifications of a hedonic price equation to establish whether distance to cultural heritage site is capitalised into housing prices in Greater Dublin, Ireland. The results show that distance to the nearest historic building...

In this paper we examine the distributional effects of Value Added Tax (VAT) in Ireland. Using the 2004/2005 Household Budget Survey, we assess the amount of VAT that households pay as a proportion of weekly disposable income. We measure VAT payments by equivalised income decile, households of...

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....