This paper considers Ireland's banking crisis from the perspective of behavioural economics. It assesses whether known biases in judgement and decision-making were instrumental in the development and severity of the crisis. It investigates evidence that key decision-makers, including consumers,...

In the absence of longitudinal data, recall data is used to examine participation in sport. Techniques of survival analysis are adapted and applied to illuminate the dynamics of sporting life. The likelihood of participation has a distinct pattern across the life-course, rising to a peak at 15...

We critically examine and empirically test the hypothesis that the strong socioeconomic gradients characterising attendance at arts events result from similar gradients in preferences for the arts, in line with existing theories of demand for the arts derived from orthodox consumer theory. To...

We present evidence from two experiments designed to quantify the impact of cognitive constraints on consumers' ability to identify surpluses. Participants made repeated forced-choice decisions about whether products conferred surpluses, comparing one or two plainly perceptible attributes...

In this study, a large, representative sample of the Irish population undertook a multiple-choice quiz about climate change. The 10-minute quiz was designed to engage participants and to measure their understanding, not of facts and figures, but of the scientific relationships behind climate...

Radon exposure in homes is a leading cause of lung cancer, but the rate at which householders test for it is low. In a pre-registered experiment with a nationally representative sample of adults (N = 1,700), we used psychological theory to design interventions to increase perceived risk from...

With the ongoing rollout of smart meters in Ireland, time-of-use (ToU) tariffs are currently being introduced as a new way to pay for electricity. Such tariffs can bring important benefits to both consumers and society, in terms of reduced electricity bills and CO2 emissions, respectively. At...