International constitutionalism and the state : a rejoinder to Vlad Perju.

The transplantation of a legal governance form from one order to another is always fraught with difficulty. Perju’s Reply asks critical questions regarding the characterization of future global governance and most particularly the use of constitutionalism beyond the state presented in my article. Perju argues that an a priori matter, whether constitutionalism is suitable beyond the state, is of critical import. My original article centered upon a “what if” question, what would the impact of an international constitutionalization process be upon the state and whether this would be an advantageous process, what Perju portrays as “the very option” of constitutionalism. The sense of urgency which Perju finds apparent in my article is also perceptible in other recent attempts to offer options for the future of the global legal order. Alongside constitutionalization, other narratives ranging from global legal pluralism to global administrative law form part of a much broader narrative of “what if” questions within international governance debates seeking to consider what exists beyond the classical state consent tropes discussed in the article. This rejoinder focuses upon several questions raised by Perju: transplantation, multiple constitutional orders, and the link between normative and structural constitutionalism.1 First, transplantation and the applicability of constitutionalism, as part of a process of constitutionalization, beyond the state. Walker considers that the opposition to constitutionalism beyond the state relies upon four interrelated categories: inappropriateness, inconceivability, improbability, and illegitimacy.2 Inappropriateness is linked to what Perju states as taking “for granted the existence of an international legal order.” Indeed, the constitutionalization debate and my article assume that a legal order exists beyond the state. Whilst not embracing Peters’s claim that constitutionalization acts as a bulwark against assertions of international law’s limitations as a legitimate legal order nor wishing to dismiss outright those that do question international law’s legitimacy,

The Determinants of Higher Education Participation in Ireland: A Micro Analysis

In this paper we present a theoretical model of higher education participation in Ireland. Utilising the Living in Ireland Survey data we model the impact of costs (direct and indirect), the estimated life cycle returns, environmental and parental influences and also household credit constraints on the higher education participation decision. We find that foregone earnings and youth employment rates have a negative impact on this decision; this suggests weaker labour markets for young people may have a positive impact on higher education participation. The insignificance of credit constraints in the shape of household income and maintenance grant eligibility from our estimations can also help draw some tentative policy conclusions. Our results also show that life cycle returns and parental educational level may influence participation in higher education in Ireland.

Procrastination on Long-Term Projects

Previous papers on time-inconsistent procrastination assume projects are completed once begun. We develop a model in which a person chooses whether and when to complete each stage of a long-term project. In addition to procrastination in starting a project, a naive person might undertake costly effort to begin a project but then never complete it. When the costs of completing different stages are more unequal, procrastination is more likely, and it is when later stages are more c- ostly that people start but don't finish projects. Moreover, if the structure of costs over the course of a project is endogenous, people are prone to choose cost structures that lead them to start but not finish projects. We also consider several extensions of the model that further illustrate how people may incur costs on projects they never complete.

Explaining the non-economic behaviour of farm foresters: The effect of productivist and lifestyle motivations

working paperCurrently rates of planting lag far behind levels that would be expected from a comparison of the returns from farm forestry with competing agricultural alternatives. Previous research has focused on the role of economic factors such as government subsidies, returns from competing agricultural alternatives and structural farm factors in explaining the decision to afforest. By examining the role of farming attitudes and motivations, the aim of this paper is to provide a framework for better understanding farmers’ behaviour in relation to the decision to enter into forestry. The results provide rare quantitative evidence that strong lifestyle and productivist motivations significantly affect farmers’ behaviour. Environmental values and perceptions regarding the extent to which forestry is seen as a component of a natural landscape were two further factors found to affect the probability of participation. We conclude that the design of policies aimed at encouraging changes in farm activities ought to be guided by a better understanding of the motivations and attitudes of farm operators

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO REPLACEMENT RATES? ESRI Working Paper No. 76, May 1996

Financial incentives to take up and stay in work, and the impact of the tax and social welfare systems on these incentives, have become a major preoccupation of Irish policy-makers. Recent Budgets have highlighted measures to "reward work" through income tax and PRSI relief for the low paid, and one aim of the expert working group set up to advise on the integration of the tax and social welfare systems is to point towards ways of improving work incentives. Empirical studies of work incentives generally measure the financial incentive facing individuals in the form of replacement rates, the ratio of income when unemployed to income when in work.1 In calculating replacement rates, choices about precisely what is to be included in the numerator or the denominator have to be made and can matter. More fundamentally, though, different approaches to deriving replacement rates, relying on different types of data, can be distinguished and may not tell the same story about the situation at a particular point in time or changes over time. This paper sets out the alternative approaches which have been used to measure Irish replacement rates, compares the pattern they show for these rates over time, and assesses the implications for our picture of how work incentives have evolved and for measurement practice

SDSS J0349-0059 is a GW Virginis star

High speed photometric observations of the spectroscopically-discovered PG 1159 star SDSS J034917.41-005917.9 in 2007 and 2009 reveal a suite of pulsation frequencies in the range of 1038 - 3323 microHz with amplitudes between 3.5 and 18.6 mmag. SDSS J034917.41-005917.9 is therefore a member of the GW Vir class of pulsating pre-white dwarfs. We have identified 10 independent pulsation frequencies that can be fitted by an asymptotic model with a constant period spacing of 23.61 +/- 0.21 s, presumably associated with a sequence of l = 1 modes. The highest amplitude peak in the suite of frequencies shows evidence for a triplet structure, with a frequency separation of 14.4 microHz. Five of the identified frequencies do not fit the l = 1 sequence, but are, however, well-modeled by an independent asymptotic sequence with a constant period spacing of 11.66 +/- 0.13 s. It is unclear to which l mode these frequencies belong.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 5 pages, 6 figures and 4 table

Participation in Higher Education: A Random Parameter Logit Approach with Policy Simulations

In this paper we present a theoretical model of higher education participation. We assume that young people that complete upper secondary education are faced with three choices, go to higher education, not go to higher education or go to higher education and work part time. Utilizing the Living in Ireland survey data 1994-2001 we model this choice in an Irish context by variation in costs (direct and indirect), the estimated lifecycle returns and household credit constraints. Using a random parameters logit choice model we find that simulated lifecycle earnings positively impact the educational/labour choices of young individuals in Ireland. This positive relationship is also found to be true for a choice-specific household income variable constructed in the paper. From the random parameters logit estimations we also find that preferences for choices with higher simulated lifecycle earnings and household income vary across individuals. We conduct policy simulations from our estimations and found that increasing student financial aid levels by 10% combined with a slight widening of the income limits for these aids can lead to significant movement away from the decision to not enter higher education.higher education participation, random parameters logit model, lifecycle simulated earnings, higher education policy