Environmental Economics Seminar

Venue: Economic and Social Research Institute, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2, Ireland

Date: 30 May 2011

Programme

14:00 Introduction

Richard Tol

14:15 Environmental pressure by household type

Sean Lyons and Richard Tol

14:45 Vegetarians in the UK and Ireland

Eimear Leahy, Sean Lyons and Richard Tol

15:15 Spatial pressures on the environment

Edgar Morgenroth

15:45 Break

16:15 Energy use in industry

Liam Murphy and Stefanie Haller

16:45 The impact of smart meters

Conor Devitt, Sean Lyons and Anne Nolan

17:15 General discussion

Entrance is free. All are welcome. For planning purposes, please register if you intend to attend this seminar.

Launch of the Irish State Administration Database

The Irish State Administration Database was launched last week at an event which formed part of the Innovation Dublin festival. The Database was developed by an interdisciplinary team working in the UCD Geary Institute, led by Dr Niamh Hardiman of the UCD School of Politics and International Relations, with funding from the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences. The searchable Database records details of births, marriages and deaths of all central stage agencies (including government departments) since the foundation of the State in 1922. Avid agency watchers can study the growth in agency numbers to their peak in 2008 and subsequent modest decline. The Database shows that there are currently 350 central state agencies. However, the rich data can be mined in other ways, enabling users to look at trends by reference to such characteristics as function (eg delivery, trading, regulation, adjudication), policy domain (eg health, education, transport), and legal form (eg statutory corporation, public company, company limited by guarantee). Some further information about the Database can be found here. Users need to register here to use this free resource. There will a be hands-on demonstration of the Database on 23 November, 3-5pm, in Room G-5, Daedalus Building, UCD Belfield Campus, with an emphasis on the range of potential applications. This event is open to all but requires advance booking with mary.shayne@ucd.ie.

Economics and Psychology One Day Session

Economics and Psychology One Day Session: UCD Geary Institute

We will be hosting a session on Economics and Psychology in the UCD Research Building on November 23rd. Those who wish to attend should RSVP to Philippa Barrington at geary@ucd.ie. Please indicate whether you wish to attend the full-day session or the keynote lecture by Professor Laibson only. The programme is below. There is no registration fee.

Programme

10.00am – 10.30am
Martin Ryan (UCD)  “The Role of Economic Psychology and Non-Cognitive Skill in Students’ Lecture Attendance and Academic Achievement”

10.30am – 11am
Liam Delaney (UCD)  “Automatic Enrollment and the Irish Pension System”

11am – 11.20am: Coffee

11.30am – 12pm
Cormac O’Dea (IFS and UCL). “Cognitive function, numeracy and retirement saving trajectories”

12pm – 12.30pm
Marie Briguglio (University of Malta). “Voluntary Pro-Environmental Behaviour”.

1230pm – 1pm
Michael Daly(TCD) “How income relates to life satisfaction and daily emotional experience: Evidence from the American Life Panel”

LUNCH

2pm – 2.30pm
Mick O’Connell (UCD) “Variation in ‘Returns to Education’ and academic performance by country in OECD’s PISA science scores”

2.30pm to 3pm
Robert Metcalfe (Oxford) “Behavioural Economics TBA”

3pm – 3.30pm
Peter Lunn (ESRI) “What Can I Get For It? A theoretical and empirical re-analysis of the endowment effect.”

3.30pm – 4pm Coffee

4pm – 5.30pm: Keynote Speaker.

David Laibson (Harvard) “Natural Expectations and Economic Behavior”

Behavioural Economics, Policy and Business

On the 28th May, the Geary Institute will hold a major event on “Behavioural Economics, Policy and Business” in Dublin City Centre.

The currently confirmed panelists include Liam Delaney and Colm Harmon of the UCD Geary Institute, Peter Lunn of the ESRI and author of the well-known behavioural economics book Basic Instincts, and Gerard O’Neill, Director of Amarach Research. The event begins at 2pm and ends at 4pm, and will be followed by coffee. The venue is the Institute of Bankers building on North Wall Quay.

The session will begin with a short introduction to the field of behavioural economics. This short introduction will provide a working definition of behavioural economics; a short history of the field; an overview of the major global centres and projects in the area; a description of the most widely cited applications of behavioural economics ideas to real-world problems; and a brief overview of potential applications in the Irish business and policy context.

A wide ranging panel discussion will follow, addressing such questions as:

– What aspects of behavioural economics should particularly interest business people? For example, how is behavioural economics relevant to product development, advertising and marketing? What are the potential regulatory changes emerging from this literature?

– Why should policymakers care about behavioural economics? What is the relevance of behavioural economics to such questions as how we should design taxation and regulation? Is there any role for government to protect citizens from themselves in areas such as financial services?

– What has this new literature to say about economic renewal in Ireland including its relevance to major strategic initiatives such as the Smart Economy and the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation?

We welcome suggestions for other questions to pose during the panel discussion. There will also be ample opportunity for audience participation.

In order to help us plan the event and print registration details, we would be very grateful if people could RSVP to Emma.Barron@ucd.ie at their earliest possible convenience if they intend attending the event.

Bob Holton lecture on globalisation

Professor Robert Holton, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin will give a lecture at 7 pm in Trinity College tonight which may be of interest to readers of this blog entitled “Is globalisation reversible?” as part of the Institute for International Integration Studies Public Lecture series. Details can be found here.