R&D and Ireland - Links: 27th July

1. Comparing Academic Entrepreneurship in Europe: The Case of Sweden and Ireland (Magnus Klofsten and Dylan Jones-Evans: Small Business Economics 14: 299–309, 2000)

2. National innovation policy and performance: Comparing the small island countries of Taiwan and Ireland (Grace T.R. Lin, Yung-Chi Shena and James Choua: Technology in Society Volume 32, Issue 2, May 2010, Pages 161-172)

3. Contribution of basic research to the Irish national innovation system (Arnold E. and Thuriaux B.: Science and Public Policy, Volume 28, Number 2, 1 April 2001 , pp. 86-98(13))

4. Ireland's National Innovation System: An Exploratory Study of Supporting Institutions and Dynamic Actors (Dimitrios Pontikakis; Thomas McDonnell; Will Geoghegan: Prometheus, Volume 24, Issue 1 March 2006 , pages 37 - 58)

5. Science: Celtic Strength: Science in Ireland

6. Paul Tansey: Productivity: Ireland’s Economic Imperative

7. Publicly Funded R&D and Economic Development in Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Economic Council: Report 133: December 1999)

Peace, love, house prices

Many people estimate hedonic models of house prices. Explanatory variables usually include characteristics of the house like size, the number of bedrooms or proximity to amenities - a recent Australian study looked at the effect of proximity to brothels. A new IFS paper looks at the effect of killings in Northern Ireland on house prices.

Estimating the peace dividend: the impact of violence on house prices in Northern Ireland
Tim Besley, Hannes Mueller
This paper exploits data on the pattern of violence across regions and over time to estimate the impact of the peace process in Northern Ireland on house prices. We begin with a linear model that estimates the average treatment effect of a conflict-related killing on house prices .showing a negative correlation between house prices and killings. We then develop an approach based on an economic model where the parameters of the statistical process are estimated for a Markov switching model where conflict and peace are treated as a latent state. From this, we are able to construct a measure of the discounted number of killings which is updated in the light of actual killings. This model naturally suggests a heterogeneous effect of killings across space and time which we use to generate estimates of the peace dividend. The economic model suggests a somewhat different pattern of estimates to the linear model. We also show that there is some evidence of spillover effects of violence in adjacent regions.
http://www.ifs.org.uk/wps/wp0918.pdf

Calculating tragedy: assessing the costs of terrorism

In this article Frey et al. (2007) consider the ways in which the effects of terrorist activities have been calculated in the past with a focus on the number of incidents or the impact on the economy. However, such measures are a poor indication of the utility losses associated with terrorism as indicated in their discussion of thirty years of violence in Northern Ireland

"Frey et al. (2004) calculate a hypothetical willingness-to-pay of a resident of Northern Ireland for a reduction in the number of fatalities to the average level of Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Accordingly, a resident of Northern Ireland (with average household income) would be willing to pay around 41% of his income for a reduction in terrorist activity to the level that prevails in the more peaceful parts of the country or the sister republic."

A life-satisfaction approach suggests that the decrements in experienced utility associated with terrrorism far outweigh the soley economic consequences.