Dr Olive Sweetman

    Economics

    Lecturer

    Rhetoric House
    26
    (01) 708 3556

    Biography

    Olive Sweetman is a lecturer in Economics at Maynooth University. She obtained her Ph.D from the University of Iowa in 1994. Her main interests are in the areas of labour economics and the economics of education. She has published articles examining the gender and racial wage gap, single-sex education, inequality and intergenerational mobility. Her research has been published in leading international economics journals including the Journal of Economic Inequality, Journal of Human Resources, Labour Economics, the Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, the Economics of Education Review and the IZA Journal of Labor Economics. She was a member of the board of Combat Poverty from 2003-2006 and served as editor of the Economic and Social Review from 2010-2013.

    Research Projects

      Project Role Funding Body / Program Description Start Date End Date Award (€)
    Earnings Dynamics and Inequality Across European Countries Member of Research Team / IRCHSS Government of Ireland Small Research Project Grants 01-NOV-07 31-OCT-08 39176
    Inequality in Ireland Member of Maynooth Research Team / Combat Poverty Agency (with ESRI) 01-JAN-97 31-DEC-97 3800
    Male-Female Wages in Ireland Member of Maynooth Research Team / Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (with ESRI) 01-JAN-99 31-DEC-99 6300
    Inequality and its Implicatons for the Irish Labour Market Member of Research Team / Social Science Research Council 01-JAN-97 31-DEC-97 5700

    Peer Reviewed Journals

      Year Publication
    2020 'Does Reducing Unemployment Benefits During a Recession Reduce Youth Unemployment? Evidence from a 50% Cut in Unemployment Assistance'
    Aedín Doris, Donal O'Neill, Olive Sweetman (2020) 'Does Reducing Unemployment Benefits During a Recession Reduce Youth Unemployment? Evidence from a 50% Cut in Unemployment Assistance'. Journal of Human Resources, 55 (3) [DOI] [Details]
    2020 'How Important are Firms in Explaining Wage Changes During a Recession?'
    Doris A.;O'Neill D.;Sweetman O. (2020) 'How Important are Firms in Explaining Wage Changes During a Recession?'. Economica, 87 (345):282-298 [DOI] [Details]
    2015 'Bounding obesity rates in the presence of self-reporting errors'
    O'Neill D.;Sweetman O. (2015) 'Bounding obesity rates in the presence of self-reporting errors'. Empirical Economics, [DOI] [IR Link] [Details]
    2015 'Wage Flexibility and the Great Recession: The response of the Irish Labour Market'
    Olive Sweetman (with Aedin Doris & Donal O'Neill) (2015) 'Wage Flexibility and the Great Recession: The response of the Irish Labour Market'. IZA JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN LABOR STUDIES, 4:18 [DOI] [IR Link] [Details]
    2013 'The consequences of measurement error when estimating the impact of obesity on income'
    O’Neill D.;Sweetman O. (2013) 'The consequences of measurement error when estimating the impact of obesity on income'. THE IZA JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS, 2 (1) [DOI] [Details]
    2013 'Identification of the covariance structure of earnings using the GMM estimator'
    Doris, A;O'Neill, D;Sweetman, O (2013) 'Identification of the covariance structure of earnings using the GMM estimator'. Journal of Economic Inequality, 11 :343-372 [DOI] [IR Link] [Details]
    2013 'Gender, single-sex schooling and maths achievement'
    Doris, A;O'Neill, D;Sweetman, O (2013) 'Gender, single-sex schooling and maths achievement'. Economics of Education Review, 35 :104-119 [DOI] [IR Link] [Details]
    2011 'GMM estimation of the covariance structure of longitudinal data on earnings'
    Doris, A;O'Neill, D;Sweetman, O (2011) 'GMM estimation of the covariance structure of longitudinal data on earnings'. Stata Journal, 11 :439-459 [IR Link] [Details]
    2007 'The effects of measurement error and omitted variables when using transition matrices to measure intergenerational mobility'
    O'Neill D.;Sweetman O.;Van de gaer D. (2007) 'The effects of measurement error and omitted variables when using transition matrices to measure intergenerational mobility'. Journal of Economic Inequality, 5 (2):159-178 [DOI] [IR Link] [Details]
    2006 'The impact of Cognitive Skills on the Distribution of the Black-White Wage Gap'
    D.O'Neill, O.Sweetman and D. Van de gaer (2006) 'The impact of Cognitive Skills on the Distribution of the Black-White Wage Gap'. Labour Economics, 13 :343-356 [IR Link] [Details]
    2001 'Inequality in Ireland 1987-1994: A Comparison using Measures of Income and Consumption'
    D. O'Neill and O.Sweetman (2001) 'Inequality in Ireland 1987-1994: A Comparison using Measures of Income and Consumption'. Journal of Income Distribution, 10 :23-39 [Details]
    2000 'Equality of opportunity and kernel density estimation: An application to intergenerational mobility'
    O'Neill, D;Sweetman, O;Van de gaer, D (2000) 'Equality of opportunity and kernel density estimation: An application to intergenerational mobility'. Advances In Econometrics, Vol 14, 14 :259-274 [Details]
    1998 'Intergenerational mobility in Britain: Evidence from unemployment patterns'
    O'Neill, D;Sweetman, O (1998) 'Intergenerational mobility in Britain: Evidence from unemployment patterns'. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 60 :431-447 [IR Link] [Details]
    1996 'Gender differences in the changing labor market - The role of legislation and inequality in changing the wage gap for qualified workers in the United Kingdom'
    Dolton, P;ONeill, D;Sweetman, O (1996) 'Gender differences in the changing labor market - The role of legislation and inequality in changing the wage gap for qualified workers in the United Kingdom'. Journal of Human Resources, 31 :549-565 [Details]

    Book Chapters

      Year Publication
    2000 'Earnings Inequality and the Distribution of Gender Wage Differences,  1987-1994'
    O’Neill, D and O. Sweetman, O. (2000) 'Earnings Inequality and the Distribution of Gender Wage Differences,  1987-1994' In: How Unequal? Men and Women in the Irish Labour Market. ESRI General  Research Series. Dublin: Oaktree Press. [Details]
    1999 'Female Labour Force Participation and Household Income Inequality in Ireland'
    D.O'Neill and O.Sweetman (1999) 'Female Labour Force Participation and Household Income Inequality in Ireland' In: The Distribution of Income in Ireland. Dublin: Oak Tree Press/Combat Poverty Agency. [Details]

    Published Reports

      Year Publication
    2013 A National Evaluation of the HEAR and DARE Supplementary Admission Routes to Higher Education: Report Commissioned by the HEAR DARE Strategic Development Group of the Irish Universities Association.
    Sweetman, Olive (with Delma Byrne, Aedín Doris, Ruth Casey, David Raffe) (2013) A National Evaluation of the HEAR and DARE Supplementary Admission Routes to Higher Education: Report Commissioned by the HEAR DARE Strategic Development Group of the Irish Universities Association. Technical Report. DARE/HEAR Strategic Development Group, Dublin. [Details]

    Conference Contributions

      Year Publication
    2019 Growing up in Ireland Annual Conference.
    Olive Sweetman (2019) Growing up in Ireland Annual Conference. [Oral Presentation], Good schools or good students? The importance of selectivity for school rankings, Dublin [Details]
    2018 US SOLE (Society of Labour Economics) Annual Conference.
    Olive Sweetman (2018) US SOLE (Society of Labour Economics) Annual Conference. [Oral Presentation], Does Reducing Unemployment Benefits During a Recession Reduce Youth Unemployment? Evidence from a 50% Cut in Unemployment Assistance, Raleigh, North Carolina [Details]
    2015 Irish Economics Association Annual Conference.
    Olive Sweetman (2015) Irish Economics Association Annual Conference. [Oral Presentation], Wage Adjustment in Ireland: Within and Between-firm Effects, Dublin [Details]
    2014 Central Bank of Ireland Labour Market Conference.
    Olive Sweetman (2014) Central Bank of Ireland Labour Market Conference. [Oral Presentation], Wage Flexibility in Ireland. The Labour Market over the Business Cycl, Dublin [Details]
    2014 Labour Markets during Crises Conference.
    Olive Sweetman (2014) Labour Markets during Crises Conference. [Oral Presentation], Wage Flexibility and the Great Recession: The Response of the Irish Labour Market”, Maynooth University [Details]
    2013 European Society of Population Economics Annual Conference.
    Olive Sweetman (2013) European Society of Population Economics Annual Conference. [Oral Presentation], The Consequences of Measurement Error when Estimating the Impact of BMI on Labour Market Outcomes, Aarhus, Denmark [Details]
    2010 Identification of the Covariance Structure of Earnings using the GMM estimator.
    Olive Sweetman (2010) Identification of the Covariance Structure of Earnings using the GMM estimator. [Oral Presentation], Irish Economic Association Conference,, Belfast [Details]
    2009 Questionnaire and Experiments in Equality of Opportunity Workshop.
    (2009) Questionnaire and Experiments in Equality of Opportunity Workshop. [Oral Presentation], International Reserach on Intergenerational Mobility: A Review, Marseille [Details]
    2009 Conference on Income and Earnings Dynamics.
    (2009) Conference on Income and Earnings Dynamics. [Oral Presentation], Estimating Models of Earnings Dynamics with the European Community Household Panel, NUI Maynooth [Details]
    2005 Society for the Study of Economic Inequality Conference Palma Majorca.
    Olive Sweetman (2005) Society for the Study of Economic Inequality Conference Palma Majorca. [Oral Presentation], Implications of Specification Error when Transition Matrices are used to Measure Intergenerational Mobility’, Palma, Majorca [Details]
    2002 Irish Economics Association Annual Conference.
    Olive Sweetman (2002) Irish Economics Association Annual Conference. [Oral Presentation], College Attendance, Tuition and Family Income: Evidence from Ireland, Mullingar [Details]
    2001 American Econometric Society Summer Meeting.
    Olive Sweetman (2001) American Econometric Society Summer Meeting. [Oral Presentation], Consequences of Specification Error for Distributional Analysis with an Application to Intergenerational Mobility, University of Maryland [Details]
    2001 ESF sponsored Conference on Mobility, Demographics and the Labout Market.
    Olive Sweetman (2001) ESF sponsored Conference on Mobility, Demographics and the Labout Market. [Oral Presentation], Consequences of Specification Error for Distributional Analysis with an Application to Intergenerational Mobility, University of Bristol [Details]
    2001 European Society for Population Economics Conference.
    Olive Sweetman (2001) European Society for Population Economics Conference. [Oral Presentation], Consequences of Specification Error for Distributional Analysis with an Application to Intergenerational Mobility, Athens, Greece [Details]
    2000 Irish Economics Association Annual Conference.
    Olive Sweetman (2000) Irish Economics Association Annual Conference. [Oral Presentation], Estimating Counterfactual Densities: An Application to Black-White Wage Differentials in the US, Waterford [Details]
    2000 Joint American/European Society of Labor Economists.
    Olive Sweetman (2000) Joint American/European Society of Labor Economists. [Oral Presentation], Estimating Counterfactual Densities: An Application to Black-White Wage Differentials in the US, Milan [Details]

    Book Review

      Year Publication
    1998 Ireland at Work.
    Sweetman, O (1998) Ireland at Work. Economic and Social Review Vol 29(3): Book Review [Details]

    Working Paper

      Year Publication
    2013 Estimating Obesity Rates in the Presence of Measurement Error.
    Olive Sweetman and Donal O'Neill (2013) Estimating Obesity Rates in the Presence of Measurement Error. Working Paper [IR Link] [Details]
    2012 The Consequences of Measurement Error when Estimating the Impact of BMI on Labour Market Outcomes.
    Donal O'Neill and Olive Sweetman (2012) The Consequences of Measurement Error when Estimating the Impact of BMI on Labour Market Outcomes. Working Paper [IR Link] [Details]
    2010 Identification of the Covariance Structure of Earnings using the GMM Estimator.
    O'Neill, Donal, Doris, Aedin and Sweetman, Olive (2010) Identification of the Covariance Structure of Earnings using the GMM Estimator. Working Paper [IR Link] [Details]
    2010 GMMCOVEARN: A Stata Module for GMM Estimation of the Covariance Structure of Earnings.
    Doris, Aedin, O'Neill, Donal and Sweetman, Olive (2010) GMMCOVEARN: A Stata Module for GMM Estimation of the Covariance Structure of Earnings. Working Paper [IR Link] [Details]
    2010 Aggregate Earnings Inequality in Europe: Permanent Differences or Transitory Fluctuations?.
    Doris, Aedin, O'Neill, Donal and Sweetman, Olive (2010) Aggregate Earnings Inequality in Europe: Permanent Differences or Transitory Fluctuations?. Working Paper [IR Link] [Details]
    2008 Does Growth Affect the Nature of Inequality? Ireland 1991-2001.
    Doris, A., O'Neill, D. and Sweetman, O. (2008) Does Growth Affect the Nature of Inequality? Ireland 1991-2001. Working Paper [IR Link] [Details]
    2012 Gender, Single-Sex Schooling and Maths Achievement.
    Olive Sweetman, Aedin Doris and Donal O'Neill (2012) Gender, Single-Sex Schooling and Maths Achievement. Working Paper [IR Link] [Details]
    2002 College attendance, tuition and family income.
    Sweetman, O. (2002) College attendance, tuition and family income. Working Paper [IR Link] [Details]
    2002 Consequences of Specification Error for Distributional Analysis with an Application to Intergenerational Mobility.
    O'Neill, D., Sweetman, O. and Van de gear, D. (2002) Consequences of Specification Error for Distributional Analysis with an Application to Intergenerational Mobility. Working Paper [IR Link] [Details]

    Conference Hosted

      Year Publication
    2014 Labour Markets During Crisis.
    Aedin Doris, Donal O'Neill and Olive Sweetman (2014) Labour Markets During Crisis. Conference Hosted [Details]
    2009 Income and Earnings Dynamics.
    Donal O'Neill, Olive Sweetman, Aedin Doris (2009) Income and Earnings Dynamics. Conference Hosted [Details]
    2004 Educational Choice and Intergenerational Mobility.
    Aedin Doris, Donal O'Neill and Olive Sweetman (2004) Educational Choice and Intergenerational Mobility. Conference Hosted [Details]