In this judicious analysis Professor Cormac O'Grada addresses central questions. Was Ireland overpopulated or over-dependent on the potato before the Irish famine? Could the 'tragic and horrific' scenes that accompanied the famine have been avoided by more effective relief? What were the...

There is a vast literature on the decision to enroll in higher education, but it focuses almost entirely on traditional students: 18 year olds graduating from high school. Yet less than half of students at degree-granting institutions are in the traditional 18–22 age range; nearly 40% are at...

This paper uses two sets of cross-country micro datasets to analyse individuals’ participation in voluntary and community activities and organisations. Analysing countries in the International Adult Literacy Survey and focusing on the impact of human capital I find a consistently positive...

In this paper, regulatory approaches to European and US social air service provision for small communities are compared. The subsidisation policies currently in place are reviewed briefly. The impact of social air service provision on small communities in the US is then focused. The Essential...

Traditionally characterised as a labour-surplus economy, Ireland was transformed during the 1990s. An impressive rate of employment growth led to a reduction in the unemployment rate from 15.7% to 4% between 1988 and 2004. Over the same period, labour force participation rates rose markedly and...

The association between birth order and marital status has been explored in a sample of 2500 adult males living in Dublin in 1968. Higher proportions ever-married were found among both eldest sons and eldest children than among the rest of the sample at each age below 46 years. In general, the...