News Archive: Academic Year 2014 - 2015

The Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin, in collaboration with the Trinity International Development Initiative will launch a new research group called the Trinity IMpact Evaluation Unit (TIME) on Monday September 21st at 6.30pm in the Neill Lecture Theatre of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute.

The Department of Economics would like to congratulate Michael Curran who recently won the Denis Conniffe prize for the best paper presented by a young economist at the Irish Economics Association Annual Meeting. Michael received the prize for his paper titled "Interest Rate Volatility and Macroeconomic Dynamics".

Professor Gaia Narciso, with Guglielmo Barone, Bank of Italy, has published a paper on ‘Organized crime and business subsidies: Where does the money go?' in the Journal of Urban Economics. The paper analyses the role of organized crime in the allocation of public subsidies to businesses.

Professor Gaia Narciso, with Guglielmo Barone, Bank of Italy and Francesco D'Acunto, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, has published a paper on ‘Telecracy: Testing for Channels of Persuasion' in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. The paper explores how media bias affects electoral outcomes.

Professor Carol Newman, with John Rand, University of Copenhagen; Theodore Talbot, Centre for Global Development; Finn Tarp, UNU-WIDER and University of Copenhagen, has published a paper on ‘Technology Transfers, Foreign Investment and Productivity Spillovers' in the European Economic Review. The paper explores the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and the productivity of host country domestic firms.

The Department of Economics is delighted to extend its congratulations to Samuel Alexander Thomas Johnston (PPES), Patrick Lavelle (PPES), Matt Murtagh-White (PPES), Luca Graziadei (TSM), Eimear Flynn (TSM), Míde Ní Ghríofa (TSM) and Christopher Swords (TSM) who were announced as new Scholars of the College. They were among the 67 Scholars announced by the Provost on Trinity Monday, 13th April.

A new research group established by the Department of Economics will bring together economics researchers, development practitioners and policy makers in a collective effort to estimate and understand the impact of development aid and investments.

The Launch of the Student Economic Review 2015 took place on Tuesday the 24th of March in the GMB. The chamber was full on the night with contributors and their families, the committee and the staff and friends of the Economics department in attendance. Our privileged guests on the evening were the President of the Student Economic Review, Professor John O'Hagan and our guest speaker, Declan Sheehan.

The Dean's Undergraduate Scholarship programme aims to support outstanding international students in an academic discipline within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. In 2015/2016, the first year of the scholarship programme, this scholarship is to be awarded to an economics student.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Gaia Narciso who has secured funding from the Irish Research Council under Strand 2: Decade of Centenaries. Her research will focus on 'the historical roots of Politically-Motivated Rebellion: Evidence from the Irish Revolution'.

Teams from Trinity College Dublin and Yale University debated the motion "This house believes that the US should open the Mexican border" on the 19th of February in the Graduate Memorial Building. The debate was chaired by Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator of the Financial Times.

Dr Claudia Aravena Novielli a postdoctoral researcher with the Department of Economics in the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy, has received a prestigious appointment to the Scientific Committee of the Latin American and Caribbean Environmental Economics Program (LACEEP).

Two PhD Economics students were recently selected to attend the prestigious 5th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences along with young economists from more than 80 countries around the world.

Ronan Lyons, Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin, is one of the contributors to a new book, 'Renting in Ireland', edited by Lorcan Sirr. The book, which includes perspectives on the social, voluntary and private rented sectors and is the first book of its kind for Ireland, includes a wide array of contributors. Ronan's chapter outlines trends in rents in Ireland since the 1940s and spatial trends over the last 15 years. The book is available to purchase from the IPA.