This paper models the probability of 15-year-old children missing school or being late. The paper sets out to uncover the effects of family background and birth order on attendance. Looking at birth order effects allows one to test Sulloway’s “Born to Rebel” hypothesis that older siblings...

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...

This paper investigates whether teenagers are educationally advantaged if their parents are educators, using PISA data for Great Britain and Ireland. It examines whether teachers’ children do better at tests of reading ability. The results show that children whose fathers teach at third level...

This paper re-examines a finding by Crow et al. (1998) showing that equal skill of right and left hands – hemispheric indecision - is associated with deficits in cognitive ability. This is consistent with the idea that failure to develop dominance of one hemisphere is associated with various...

University tuition fees for undergraduates were abolished in Ireland in 1996. This paper examines the effect of this reform on the socio-economic gradient (SES) to determine whether the reform was successful in achieving its objective of promoting educational equality. It finds that the reform...

University tuition fees for undergraduates were abolished in Ireland in 1996. This paper examines the effect of this reform on the socioeconomic gradient (SES) to determine whether the reform was successful in achieving its objective of promoting educational equality. It finds that the reform...

This paper uses a cross-country representative sample of Europeans over the age of 50 to analyse whether individuals' height is associated with higher or lower levels of well-being. Two outcomes are used: a measure of depression symptoms reported by individuals and a categorical measure of life...

This paper addresses the question of whether higher levels of education contribute to greater tolerance of homosexuals. Using survey data for Ireland and exploiting a major reform to education, the abolition of fees for secondary schools in 1968, it is shown that increases in education causes...

This paper uses a new large population survey from twelve European countries to measure the association between handedness and depression. It is found that that depressive symptoms are significantly higher amongst left-handed men. While 19% of right handed men report experiencing depressive...