Sean Lyons

The Value of Domestic Building Energy Efficiency – Evidence from Ireland

Following the transposition of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive into Irish law, all properties offered for sale or to let in Ireland are obliged to have an energy efficiency rating. This paper analyses the effect of energy efficiency ratings on the sale and rental prices of properties in the Republic of Ireland. Using the Heckman selection technique we model the decision to advertise the energy efficiency rating of a property and the effect of energy efficiency ratings on property values. Our results show that energy efficiency has a positive effect on both the sales and rental prices of properties, and that the effect is significantly stronger in the sales segment of the property market. We also analyse the effect of energy efficiency across different market conditions and we find that the effect of the energy rating is stronger where market conditions are worse.

Estimating the extra cost of living for people with disabilities

Addressing the extra economic costs of disability is a logical step towards alleviating elements of social exclusion for people with disabilities. This study estimates the long-run economic cost of disability in Ireland in terms of the additional spending needs that arise due to disability. It defines and estimates models of the private costs borne by families with individuals who have a disability in Ireland when compared with the wider population, both in general and by severity of disability. Our modelling framework is based on the standard of living approach to estimating the cost of disability. We extend on previous research by applying panel ordered probit models to living in Ireland survey data 1995-2001 in order to control for the effects of previous disability and income and correlated unobserved heterogeneity. The approach allows us to quantify, for the first time, the additional long-run economic costs of living associated with disability. Our findings suggest that the extra economic cost of disability in Ireland is large and varies by severity of disability, with important implications for measures of poverty.

Irish exceptionalism? local food environments and dietary quality

Objective To explore whether distance to and density of food outlets within the local area have an impact on individual dietary quality, controlling for the socioeconomic characteristics of individuals and their households. Methods An analysis of the Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition in Ireland (SLÁN), a two-stage clustered sample of 10 364 individuals aged 18+ from the Republic of Ireland. Socioeconomic status was measured using net household income and highest level of education. Diet was assessed via a food frequency questionnaire and the results scored in terms of cardiovascular risk. Food availability was measured in terms of distance to (Euclidean and network) and density of different types of food outlets. Dietary quality was decomposed using fixed effects regression models. Results There is a pronounced gradient in distances to nearest food store and quality of diet by socioeconomic status. Controlling for individual and household socioeconomic status and demographic characteristics, individuals who live closer to a larger food outlet or who live in an area with a higher density of larger food outlets have a significantly better diet in terms of cardiovascular risk. Conclusions Studies outside of North America have failed to find that the physical availability of food plays a significant role in socioeconomic gradients in diet and nutrition. This study suggests that food availability in the Republic of Ireland plays a small but statistically significant role in influencing the diets of individuals and communities and, as such, may also influence socioeconomic inequalities in health.

Managing household waste in Ireland: behavioural parameters and policy options

Formulating efficient waste management policy requires data on market conditions. Data on household waste management behaviour in Ireland is scarce, and policy making could benefit from improved data and market analysis. In this paper we estimate models of household waste management behaviour in Ireland using econometrics and simple comparison of average effects, but we find that some important parameters cannot be obtained robustly using existing aggregate data. Drawing upon international literature in order to complete our assumptions, we apply a simulation model to illustrate the likely effects of some current policy options. We show that increases in the landfill levy are likely to have little effect on household behaviour if pay-by-use tariffs are not fully implemented, and we find that while introducing additional bins for segregated compostable waste may divert significant quantities of such waste, they are more effective in cities than in rural areas. We also highlight key shortcomings of the available data.

Home computer use and academic performance of nine-year-olds

A recent rise in home computer ownership has seen a growing number of children using computers and accessing the internet from a younger age. This paper examines the link between children’s home computing and their academic performance in the areas of reading and mathematics. Data from the nine-year-old cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland survey is adopted for this study. The survey reveals that searching for information is a more popular activity among the children than communicating online. Through regression analysis we find that using a computer is positively and significantly associated with children’s reading and mathematics scores in standardised tests. This result holds after controlling for multiple determinants of school performance. In addition, we investigate the effects of using various applications on the computer. Surfing the internet for fun, doing projects for school and emailing are associated with higher reading and maths test scores, while those who are permitted to use the computer unsupervised tend to have higher maths test scores. Instant messaging and downloading music or watching movies are negatively associated with both reading and maths scores. The results indicate that some forms of early computer use have significant associations with academic performance among children in primary school, although we could not establish the direction of causation definitively.

Socioeconomic distribution of emissions and resource use in Ireland

This paper aims to determine emissions polluted directly and indirectly by an average person, for each household type, across a wide range of emissions. There are five household type categories: location, income decile, household composition, size and number of disabled residents. Irelands Sustainable Development Model (ISus) is used which allows the analysis of direct and indirect sources of pollution per household as the model is based on an input-output methodology. Four sets of results are presented: first for greenhouse gas emissions, second for air pollutants, third for persistent organic pollutants and lastly for metals. An analysis section shows how the picture changes when one controls for the size and income of households. All results analysed are for the year 2006. Most greenhouse gas and metal emissions are polluted via indirect means, although direct sources of emissions play a role for CO(2), SO(2) and CO. The results suggest that the richest decile is the biggest emitter and poorer and larger households are seen to emit the least per person. It is also shown that household income has a stronger relationship with pollution than household size per person.

Urban green space and obesity in older adults: Evidence from Ireland

We examine the association between living in an urban area with more or less green space and the probability of being obese. This work involves the creation of a new dataset which combines geo-coded data at the individual level from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing with green space data from the European Urban Atlas 2012. We find evidence suggestive of a u-shaped relationship between green space in urban areas and obesity; those living in areas with the lowest and highest shares of green space within a 1.6 km buffer zone have a higher probability of being classified as obese (BMI ⩾30). The unexpected result that persons in areas with both the lowest and highest shares of green space have a higher probability of being obese than those in areas with intermediate shares, suggests that other characteristics of urban areas may be mediating this relationship.

The income elasticity of household energy demand: a quantile regression analysis

ABSTRACT This article examines variation in the income elasticity of household energy demand across the energy expenditure distribution using expenditure data from the five most recent Household Budget Surveys (HBSs) in Ireland: the 1987, 1994/1995, 1999/2000, 2004/2005 and 2009/2010 HBS. The analysis uses a two-stage instrumental variable quantile regression approach and is based on each HBS cross section, as well as the overall pooled observations. The estimated elasticities are compared across low- and high-energy-consumption scenarios and to a benchmark elasticity estimated using two-stage least squares. The results provide evidence that there is significant variation in the income elasticities across the energy expenditure distribution and that care must be taken when using the constant mean elasticity for policy purposes. More specifically, any examination of the future impact of a change in income support policy measures on energy consumption should recognize the substantial context-dependent variation in the income elasticity.

Estimating the value of lost telecoms connectivity

We describe a practical method for estimating the economic cost of outages in electronic communications networks, accommodating temporal, geographical and sectoral variations in incidence. The method is illustrated with two types of examples: a hypothetical outage of the main fixed line network operator in Ireland, and seven examples of outages affecting individual local exchanges in areas with concentrations of technology-intensive employment or dense residential population. The national fixed line outage has an estimated cost of @?42-50 per household-day arising from effects on the productive and residential sectors, with possible further losses from effects on retail payments and high societal value facilities such as emergency services. Estimated quantifiable economic costs from outages affecting a single local exchange range from @?370,000 to @?1.1 million per day.

The impact of broadband and other infrastructure on the location of new business establishments

This paper analyses the impact of broadband infrastructure, along with a range of other local characteristics such as motorways and other infrastructure, availability of human capital and access to third level educational facilities, on the location of new business establishments. The sample period spans the introduction and recent history of broadband in Ireland, and during this period 86% of the current motorway network was constructed. Availability of broadband infrastructure is a significant determinant, but its effects may be mediated by the presence of sufficiently high human capital in the area. This indicates that ICT infrastructure is a necessary, but not sufficient factor in new firm formation.