[Events] PPEGS Seminar Series Announcement - Professor Vani K. Borooah

[John.Cullinan]

Public Policy, Enterprise, Governance and Sustainability (PPEGS) Seminar Series

 

The Public Policy, Enterprise, Governance and Sustainability Research Theme invites you to a seminar by

 

Professor Vani K. Borooah  

University of Ulster

 

Titled

 

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling: Voter Satisfaction and Voter Choice in Ireland

 

 

 

Date: Wednesday April 21st, 14.00-15.00

Venue: Kemmy Business School, KB1-11 

All are welcome to attend

 

 

Abstract

This paper begins by examining differences between West and East European countries in satisfaction with the way democracy worked. Compared to East European countries, satisfaction levels were considerably higher in West European countries.  Moreover, there was considerably greater inequality in the distribution of satisfaction in East European, compared to West European, countries.  When these facts were combined to construct "equity-sensitive" satisfaction averages, the gap between West European and East European countries was even greater than suggested by a comparison of average satisfaction levels. Shining through all this was Ireland: of all the countries in the sample, people in Ireland were happiest with the way democracy worked in their country. A possible reason for high levels of satisfaction in Ireland is that the system of the Single Transferable Vote offered Irish voters considerable choice between voting for a candidate and voting for a party.  When this choice was analysed in terms of the warmth of voters' feeling towards the parties on the one hand and, on the other, their reasons for casting their first preference votes, several interesting insights about Irish electoral behaviour in the 2002 General Election emerged.  First, it is clear that Fianna Fail "succeeded", and Fine Gael failed, in the polls in spite of the fact that the gap in voters' empathy with their policies was, in fact, quite small.  Fianna Fail's success lay in its ability to put forward good candidates who were good representatives of their areas and Fine Gael's failure was rooted in its inability to do so.  Irish voters, on the face of it, feel warm towards those parties that supply likeable candidates who do things for their constituency and constituents.  It is all very Gemütlichkeit.

 

 

Bio

Vani K. Borooah is Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Ulster.  He was born in India and came to England in 1973 as a postgraduate student to the University of Southampton.  After taking his Ph.D. in from Southampton in 1977, he joined the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Cambridge as a Research Officer.  He was concurrently Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge.  In 1987, he was appointed to the Chair in Applied Economics at the University of Ulster.  Professor Borooah is past President of the European Public Choice Society and of the Irish Economic Association and is also Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Queensland.  His work has been mainly in the areas of unemployment, inequality, poverty, and development. 

 

 

The Public Policy, Enterprise, Governance and Sustainability Seminar Series is organised by:

John Cullinan (Department of Economics)

Mark Cummins (Department of Accounting and Finance)

Helena Lenihan (Department of Economics)

Philip O'Regan (Department of Accounting and Finance)

 

If you have any questions regarding this seminar, please direct them to John Cullinan (061 202975, john.cullinan at ul.ie). 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.skynet.ie/pipermail/events/attachments/20100420/dc32bf8e/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 3529 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
URL: <http://lists.skynet.ie/pipermail/events/attachments/20100420/dc32bf8e/attachment-0002.jpeg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 6174 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://lists.skynet.ie/pipermail/events/attachments/20100420/dc32bf8e/attachment-0003.jpeg>