Featured Stories
Rand Report: Towards an Australian Circular Economy for Solar Photovoltaic Technologies
SANTA MONICA, California, Nov. 11 (TNSLrpt) -- Rand Report issued the following report on October 27, 2026, entitled "Towards an Australian Circular Economy for Solar Photovoltaic Technologies."
Here are excerpts:
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Australia leads the world in per-capita solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment. However, this achievement creates an urgent challenge: Cumulative end-of-life (EoL) PV waste is projected to reach 1.1 million tonnes by 2035 and could triple by 2050. The infrastructure, regulation and market mechanisms needed to manage this growing waste stream do not yet exist at scale in Australia--and
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SANTA MONICA, California, Nov. 11 (TNSLrpt) -- Rand Report issued the following report on October 27, 2026, entitled "Towards an Australian Circular Economy for Solar Photovoltaic Technologies."
Here are excerpts:
* * *
Australia leads the world in per-capita solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment. However, this achievement creates an urgent challenge: Cumulative end-of-life (EoL) PV waste is projected to reach 1.1 million tonnes by 2035 and could triple by 2050. The infrastructure, regulation and market mechanisms needed to manage this growing waste stream do not yet exist at scale in Australia--andthe window to build them is rapidly closing.
Three structural barriers prevent market forces alone from driving PV circularity. First, existing recycling facilities rely on mechanical methods that limit the recovery of high-value materials, often downcycling panels into low-value construction aggregate. Second, although 45 to 65 per cent of decommissioned panels remain suitable for reuse, Australia lacks the collection logistics, certification frameworks and marketplace infrastructure to capture that value. Third, a significant cost gap between recycling (approximately $28 per panel) and landfill disposal ($4 to $5 per panel) removes financial incentives to recycle under existing market conditions.
In this report, the authors present a comprehensive assessment of the technical, social, economic and policy landscape for developing a PV circular economy in Australia. They identify development pathways across three planning horizons aligned with Australia's Net Zero 2050 plan, spanning five activity areas.
Australia's technical capability for PV circularity is well established. The remaining challenge is primarily one of policy, investment and coordination, and it requires a whole-of-nation response that equitably distributes the costs and benefits of the solar circularity transition across metropolitan, regional and remote communities.
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View the full report here: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA4400/RRA4495-1/RAND_RRA4495-1.pdf
[Category: ThinkTank]
Rand Report: Preventing Health-related Job Loss
SANTA MONICA, California, Nov. 11 (TNSLrpt) -- Rand Report issued the following report on October 14, 2026, entitled "Preventing health-related job loss."
Here are excerpts:
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In recent years, the UK has experienced a sustained rise in the number of working-age people reporting health conditions that limit their ability to work, alongside increasing economic inactivity due to long-term ill health. Early-intervention caseworker-led support has shown promise in both UK and international settings. Commissioned by The Health Foundation, this study reviews the effectiveness of caseworker interventions,
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SANTA MONICA, California, Nov. 11 (TNSLrpt) -- Rand Report issued the following report on October 14, 2026, entitled "Preventing health-related job loss."
Here are excerpts:
* * *
In recent years, the UK has experienced a sustained rise in the number of working-age people reporting health conditions that limit their ability to work, alongside increasing economic inactivity due to long-term ill health. Early-intervention caseworker-led support has shown promise in both UK and international settings. Commissioned by The Health Foundation, this study reviews the effectiveness of caseworker interventions,identifies the key features of successful delivery models, and assesses how support could be expanded and integrated within existing services.
The research combined a rapid review of UK and international evidence, workforce mapping, analysis of delivery models and their costs and benefits, and interviews and workshops with stakeholders across the health, employment, occupational health, insurance and voluntary sectors. It explores how caseworker support is currently delivered, who delivers it, and the conditions required for effective implementation at scale.
Findings suggest that early-intervention caseworker-led support should be understood as a category of services that help people stay in or return to work, rather than a single profession or delivery model. Evidence indicates that many approaches improve employment outcomes and, in some cases, health outcomes, and that their economic benefits often outweigh their costs. However, current provision in the UK remains fragmented, unevenly distributed, and constrained by workforce and system challenges.
The report concludes that scaling up caseworker-led support is both desirable and feasible, but will require greater system coherence, stronger referral pathways, workforce development, more sustainable funding arrangements, and clearer coordination across health, employment and insurance systems.
Key Takeaways
Early-intervention caseworker-led support improves employment outcomes
Evidence from the UK and internationally suggests that a number of caseworker-led support models improve employment outcomes and, in some cases, health outcomes. Model effectiveness appears to be enhanced by early engagement, a focus on return to work, positive relationships between caseworkers and clients, and provision of tiered or targeted support. The economic benefits of caseworker-led support often appear to outweigh the costs.
Current provision in the UK is fragmented and uneven
There is no single, nationally coherent source of caseworker-led support in the UK. Public provision has largely been delivered through time-limited programmes and pilots, resulting in geographic variation and discontinuity. Access to private provision also remains uneven, meaning many workers, particularly those employed by SMEs or in insecure work, cannot currently access caseworker support.
Scaling support will require workforce development and greater system coherence
The UK has a substantial potential labour pool with relevant skills, but only a small proportion currently work in dedicated early-intervention work-and-health roles. Scaling support will require clearer role definitions, stronger training and supervision arrangements, improved referral pathways, sustainable funding mechanisms and a more coherent national system for delivering support.
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View the full report here: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA4700/RRA4728-1/RAND_RRA4728-1.pdf
[Category: ThinkTank]
Rand Report: Identity and Document Fraud in the Context of Research Security: International Case Studies and Lessons for the Netherlands
SANTA MONICA, California, Nov. 11 (TNSLrpt) -- Rand Report issued the following report on November 9, 2026, entitled "Identity and document fraud in the context of research security: International case studies and lessons for the Netherlands."
Here are excerpts:
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nternational cooperation and attracting talent are vital for the Netherlands' scientific and economic progress, but growing security threats from foreign actors pose risks to knowledge security. This report, commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and conducted by RAND Europe, investigates the risks
... Show Full Article
SANTA MONICA, California, Nov. 11 (TNSLrpt) -- Rand Report issued the following report on November 9, 2026, entitled "Identity and document fraud in the context of research security: International case studies and lessons for the Netherlands."
Here are excerpts:
* * *
nternational cooperation and attracting talent are vital for the Netherlands' scientific and economic progress, but growing security threats from foreign actors pose risks to knowledge security. This report, commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and conducted by RAND Europe, investigates the risksof identity and document fraud in the Dutch knowledge sector. Through a literature review and case studies in the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, and Sweden, the study examines how screening for such fraud is organised, the forms and frequency of fraud, and effective safeguards. Key findings reveal that fraud often involves incomplete or falsified documents, deliberate omission of affiliations or funding sources, and the use of fake qualifications or invitation letters. The frequency of such fraud is difficult to determine due to decentralised and fragmented monitoring systems. Effective safeguards identified include better integration of screening at individual and institutional levels, improved information sharing, repeated and multi-layered screening, and the use of technical expertise.
The report also highlights the importance of country-specific knowledge, clear disclosure requirements, and European coordination to prevent knowledge leaks. Recommendations include establishing clear guidelines for information sharing, enhancing technical expertise, and developing centralised disclosure requirements. The findings underscore the need for a robust, multi-layered knowledge security policy to protect the Netherlands' strategic interests while maintaining its position as a hub for international research and innovation.
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View the full report here: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA5000/RRA5003-1/RAND_RRA5003-1.pdf
[Category: ThinkTank]
Jamestown Foundation Issues Commentary: Russia's Nationalities Agency Playing Disturbing Role in FSB Crackdown
WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 -- The Jamestown Foundation issued the following commentary on Nov. 10, 2026, in the foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor:
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Russia's Nationalities Agency Playing Disturbing Role in FSB Crackdown
Paul Goble
Executive Summary:
* Russia's Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs (FADN), Moscow's latest bureaucracy for coordinating policy on that country's ethnic groups, seldom gets much attention and is often dismissed as a talk shop that issues reports other Russian institutions ignore.
* Behind that banal exterior, the FADN operates a monitoring system that keeps track
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 -- The Jamestown Foundation issued the following commentary on Nov. 10, 2026, in the foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor:
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Russia's Nationalities Agency Playing Disturbing Role in FSB Crackdown
Paul Goble
Executive Summary:
* Russia's Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs (FADN), Moscow's latest bureaucracy for coordinating policy on that country's ethnic groups, seldom gets much attention and is often dismissed as a talk shop that issues reports other Russian institutions ignore.
* Behind that banal exterior, the FADN operates a monitoring system that keeps trackof what is occurring across the country and feeds the results to the Federal Security Service (FSB). This Russian security agency carries out Russian President Vladimir Putin's crackdown against opposition groups.
* The presence in the FADN leadership of numerous FSB officers strengthens this link and is something that makes the FADN less the nationalities policy agency it advertises itself to be than a branch office of Russia's powerful security service.
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Russia's Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs (FADN), Moscow's latest bureaucratic structure for elaborating policy on that country's ethnic groups, seldom gets much attention. Many often dismiss it as a talk shop that issues reports and recommendations other Russian institutions routinely ignore. [1] Behind that bland bureaucratic facade, however, the FADN has set up and maintains a ramified monitoring system with centers in every federal subject that track what is going on that either violates Russian law or is likely to give rise to such violations, then feed the results of this operation to the Federal Security Service (FSB), which carries out Russian President Vladimir Putin's crackdown against opposition groups (Arctida, October 28). FADN leadership includes numerous former or even current FSB officers--from the agency's director on down--which makes it less the nationalities policy agency it advertises itself to be and more a branch office of Russia's powerful security service, which it in fact represents (Arctida, October 28).
Somewhat unexpectedly, recent months have highlighted the ties between the FADN and the FSB less through reports of cooperation between the two--something neither side has said much about at any point--than through FSB moves against FADN officials. The FSB has detained FADN officials in what appears to be an effort to use corruption charges to ensure that the FADN does not gain too much power from these ties or even yields what powers it has to the FSB (Kommersant, January 22; VKontakte/@tsargradtv; Sledstviye, October 22).
These FSB moves have prompted Arctida, an independent investigative group that the Russian government earlier this year listed as "an undesirable organization," along with the Important Stories portal, to launch a close examination of the FADN-FSB relationship (Arctida, October 28). Last month, some pro-Kremlin commentators suggested that the FADN must continue to develop in that direction, "evolving from an agency that organizes celebrations into a strategic institution" that will serve "essentially as a security service working on ethnic policy and countering extremism" (Lenta Novostei Sankt-Peterburga, October 22). Arctida, for its part, however, suggests that these FSB moves may have another purpose and are intended as a move to take the monitoring function away from the FADN and fold it into the second directorate of the FSB, which monitors many of the same issues (Arctida, October 28). It is too soon to tell which of these predictions will prove true, but the investigation that Arctida and Important Stories have conducted shows just how much is at stake not only for FADN but also for Russia's nearly 200 nations and nationalities that FADN has been monitoring for itself and for the FSB up to now.
The FADN itself was created in 2015. Two years later, then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev authorized the creation under its aegis of a monitoring system to track developments in online content, news coverage, and social media, a process that, in the years since, the FADN has been given some 500 million rubles ($6.02 million) annually to carry out--more than ten percent of the agency's budget. According to Arctida, the agency now wants to expand this effort to include the monitoring of messaging apps as well. Since its creation, regional and federal authorities, including the FSB, have regularly accessed the FADN monitoring system. The FADN's annual reports for 2024 and 2025 say that this has led to the opening of 170 criminal cases and 25 administrative ones, with FADN providing information on what it called more than 35,000 "negative information incidents." In October, the FADN leadership said it wanted to expand its monitoring to include even "hints" of developments that could generate "tension among ethnic or religious groups," including content that on its face contained "no direct calls for hostility." Such an expansion would make FADN monitoring far more comprehensive and would likely lead to more criminal and administrative cases in the future if this proposal is adopted.
The monitoring system now operates under the cover of the Houses of the Peoples of Russia, which operate in all federal subjects of the Russian Federation and in Russian-occupied districts of Ukraine. In the latter, FADN says it identified in recent months "871 destructive information incidents," of which 42 required a response by law enforcement agencies, an indication that FADN is now actively involved in Putin's effort to integrate occupied territories into a common Russian legal space.
Since its creation, the FADN has been closely integrated with siloviki agencies through sharing the task of monitoring what the population is thinking and by selecting personnel. Since its creation in 2015, Igor Barinov, a former Duma deputy and retired FSB colonel, has led the FADN. Among those with intelligence agency links he has appointed are Anna Polezhayeva as director of the House of the Peoples of Russia; Mikhail Mishin, who worked in the FSB's 10th directorate, as head of monitoring; Yevgeny Prokoptsov, a major from the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU), as head of the department for the protection of state secrets; and Stanislav Bedkin, a colonel from the FSB's second directorate, as deputy to Barinov. Until recently, these ties not only provided these individuals and the FADN as a whole with a certain bureaucratic protection but also opened the way for many of them to engage in corruption. Polezhayeva, the head of the monitoring network, has been especially notorious in that regard, Arctida says, wearing expensive jewelry and acquiring luxury apartments.
The FSB is using corruption charges against the FADN and its monitoring system to build FSB power, Ilya Shumanov, the co-founder of Arctida and managing partner of TriTrace Investigations, points out. This leaves that system in limbo and may set the stage for transferring monitoring from the FADN to the FSB. If so, that would likely reduce the FADN to an organizer of festivals and thus a target for dismantling, as other past Soviet and Russian efforts to create a nationalities ministry have. (On that history, see Natsional'niy Aktsent, March 31, 2025.) The FADN may survive and even keep its monitoring system, however, because Putin may not want a single agency to control all monitoring capability, lest that concentration of power challenge his own. As long as that consideration governs the Kremlin dictator's actions, the FADN may retain its monitoring function, even as the FSB turns up the heat. That, in turn, means the FADN will remain a powerful player in how Moscow runs the rest of the country and seeks to counter challenges from the regions and republics, a player none of those involved or analyzing can afford to ignore.
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Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy.
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Original text here: https://jamestown.org/russias-nationalities-agency-playing-disturbing-role-in-fsb-crackdown/
[Category: ThinkTank]
Hudson Institute Issues Commentary: Asia Is Not Riding the AI Boom. It Is Building It.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 -- Hudson Institute, a research organization that says it promotes leadership for a secure, free and prosperous future, issued the following commentary to GIS Reports:
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Nov 10, 2026
GIS Reports
Asia Is Not Riding the AI Boom. It Is Building It.
AI's trillion-dollar surge runs through Asian factories, where Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea hold real leverage.
Riley Walters
Demand for artificial intelligence is surging and boosting economic growth, with the headlines focusing on North America. But when Asia is included, total worldwide spending on AI and related industries
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 -- Hudson Institute, a research organization that says it promotes leadership for a secure, free and prosperous future, issued the following commentary to GIS Reports:
* * *
Nov 10, 2026
GIS Reports
Asia Is Not Riding the AI Boom. It Is Building It.
AI's trillion-dollar surge runs through Asian factories, where Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea hold real leverage.
Riley Walters
Demand for artificial intelligence is surging and boosting economic growth, with the headlines focusing on North America. But when Asia is included, total worldwide spending on AI and related industriesis expected to top $1 trillion in 2026. Increasing exports and investments into modern infrastructure are fueling large economies like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, while also helping move middle-income economies like the Philippines and Vietnam toward a higher-income status.
Competition between the United States and China on AI, fueled partly by the high demand for AI in the U.S., is supporting the Asian manufacturing boom. America's capital expenditure in AI is forecast to surpass $2 trillion by 2030. China plans to invest $300 billion on data centers over the same timeline. Not wanting to fall behind either the U.S. or China, other Asian countries aim to build their own domestic infrastructure and manufacturing.
The AI ecosystem can be generally separated between three elements: models, compute power and supply chains - with the U.S. and China competing and leading for the first two. Asian countries are looking at how they can stand out amid this intense East-West competition, while capitalizing on their strengths in technology manufacturing supply chains. This has led smaller economies to identify their competitive advantages while investing in novel applications for AI in various industries such as manufacturing and robotics, agentic uses and pharmaceuticals.
Whether American demand for AI continues to grow or stagnates, we can expect Asian countries to continue to invest in their AI ecosystems. As countries across Asia have a long way to go before reaching the level of investments seen in either the U.S. or China, governments and industries do not want to lose the momentum of this technological and economic boom.
Asian AI strategies: Use and manufacturing
Asia is at the heart of the global buildout in AI. One data center can hold as many as 45 million chips - with much of the semiconductor manufacturing process, server boards and rack assembly happening across Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam. Asia is fully integrated into the AI component chain: While servers and graphics processing units are largely designed by American firms, we would not see the global boom in investment in data centers without South Koreans building memory chips and Taiwanese companies putting these components together.
The growth in Asian exports of servers and server parts has been exponential since American tech companies in 2023 began nearly doubling their annual build-out of data centers. Server and server parts exports from Asia increased 50 percent in 2024 and 110 percent in 2025. The largest single source for these components was Taiwan.
AI is now a priority for all governments in Asia, with each taking a different approach. Government-to-government coordination is focusing on finding ways to collaborate in the regulatory space on issues like export controls and supply chain monitoring. Elected officials are looking to support their domestic industries in the hope that local companies increase their participation in global markets.
The epicenter of AI technology is Taiwan
Taiwan is at the center of the AI boom and benefitting economically. Its annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth has increased sharply, from just 1.5 percent in 2023 to 13 percent in 2026. But Taipei does not want to simply remain a manufacturer of AI components. In May of 2024, President Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai, announced his administration's "five trusted industry sectors": semiconductors, AI, military, security and surveillance, and next-gen communication.
His administration expanded this effort with its Ten AI Initiatives Promotion Plan (2025-2028).
This plan includes investing in smart living, promoting AI for small- and medium-sized companies, increasing Taiwan's international competitiveness in software development, expanding silicon photonics production capabilities, moving into quantum and robotic technologies, boosting domestic compute capability and investing in domestic AI talent and literacy.
In 2026 alone, Taipei allocated approximately $1 billion toward this plan. At the same time, the government is investing in AI capabilities in other areas of national interest, such as its integration into drone and defense technologies and allocating approximately $330 million toward AI start-ups.
Japan's industrial and financing edge
Japanese firms have an even greater interest in facilitating AI development and production. The country's companies are essential for providing the semiconductor manufacturing equipment, chemicals and gases that go into chip production. Investors in Japan are taking significant financial stakes in the growth of AI. The Nikkei 225, Japan's most-watched stock market index, which tracks the top blue-chip companies, is up nearly 80 percent from just two years ago. Tech firms are capturing much of the gains.
In July 2026, the government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi released Japan's Growth Strategy, a document outlining a new economic plan for Japan and identifying 17 strategic fields to prioritize. AI and semiconductors together are the first priority on this list - with specific interest in physical AI (for robotics), increasing domestic semiconductor production and expanding vertical, or bespoke, AI. Tokyo has proposed a budget of over $3 billion for its AI transformation.
These efforts build on the government working for years to expand Japan's domestic production of semiconductors, including welcoming international companies like Taiwan's TSMC investment in the Kumamoto prefecture for the production of advanced logic chips. U.S.-based Micron is investing $9.6 billion in Japanese production of AI memory chips. Tokyo-based Kioxia and America's Sandisk have announced a $31 billion partnership, also in memory chips production. Meanwhile, the Takaichi administration continues to investment in its flagship program to indigenously create leading edge logic chips in the Rapidus program.
South Korea aims for an AI-enabled society
Over the last year, technology exports, much of which are AI related, have contributed at least a quarter of South Korea's GDP growth. The nation's stock market has made significant gains as well - at one point in 2026 doubling in value in the last 12 months before investors took profits.
In early 2026, President Lee Jae Myung unveiled the AI Action Plan (2026-2028), which has the goal of positioning South Korea as one of the top three global leaders in the technology. The initiative has three policy pillars: Building an AI innovation ecosystem, fostering a nationwide AI transformation and contributing to a global AI-enabled society. To get there, the plan identifies 99 implementation tasks and makes over 300 policy recommendations. Progress will be monitored by a newly established National AI Strategy Committee.
A national AI budget of more than $7 billion was allocated in 2026 toward the implementation of this action plan. Next year's budget, which should lead to the "world's highest performance" sovereign AI model, is expected to exceed 2026's total.
Like many of these government-led initiatives, Seoul's plan is not just state-funded AI developments; it also encourages greater private sector investment, aiming for an additional $22 billion worth of private investment. Samsung and SK Hynix, the world's leaders in high-bandwidth memory chip production, have agreed to invest $520 billion over the next five years for new chip production across the Korean Peninsula.
American industry growing in Asia
American industries understand that Asia is not only a hub for AI innovation and manufacturing, but that there is also strong demand for AI use in the region. Cloud service leaders plan major investments in Asia: Amazon Web Services plans to invest over $14 billion in Japan and $33 billion (by 2039) across Southeast Asia.
Data companies like Google are breaking ground on billion-dollar data centers in Thailand and Malaysia. California-based Nvidia plans to open a new Asian headquarters in Taiwan, along with plans to spend $150 billion annually across the island's AI supply chain. Its plans include building a 100-megawatt data center in southern Taiwan with domestic partner Foxconn.
Scenarios
More likely: Heavy investment across Asia's AI supply chain
In the years ahead, expect governments and industry to continue to invest heavily across Asia's AI supply chain, including in the energy sector. As the U.S. and China rapidly develop their AI ecosystems, Asian countries will find ways to integrate into the global ecosystem, developing their own capabilities. Growth in investments and exports will continue to support regional economic growth. Eventually, we will see greater mutual competition among Japan, Taiwan and South Korea - especially as each of them seeks to develop a leading edge in physical AI. Not only will Tokyo, Taipei and Seoul compete through the export of manufactured goods, but they will gradually challenge each other's market position across South Asia, Southeast Asia and Latin America, through the export of their AI software.
Less likely: Growth in Asian AI slowed by U.S.-China competition
In the less likely scenario, Asian countries are deterred by U.S.-China competition in AI. This is unlikely because even if the U.S. moderates its development in AI amid slowing down data center construction or concerns about the risks posed by frontier AI models, there are still plenty of investment opportunities across the AI supply chain.
Due to demographic realities, manufacturing and exports are essential to Asian economies. AI is expected to support transitions as each country manages declines in their populations and workforce while maintaining economic growth and prosperity.
Read in GIS Reports (https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/asia-building-ai-boom/).
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Riley Walters is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute specializing in international economics and national security.
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Original text here: https://www.hudson.org/technology/asia-not-riding-ai-boom-it-building-it-riley-walters
[Category: ThinkTank]
Economic & Social Research Institute: 'Measurement Matters: Non-random Missing Data and Indicator Divergence in Energy Poverty'
DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov. 11 (TNSLrpt) -- The Economic and Social Research Institute issued the following working paper on November 9, 2026, entitled "Measurement matters: Non-random missing data and indicator divergence in energy poverty."
Here are excerpts:
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Energy poverty is measured using a range of expenditure-based and experience-based indicators that differ in their data requirements and the dimensions of hardship they capture. We examined (i) the extent and social patterning of financial data missingness, (ii) how closely different indicators of energy poverty identified the same households,
... Show Full Article
DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov. 11 (TNSLrpt) -- The Economic and Social Research Institute issued the following working paper on November 9, 2026, entitled "Measurement matters: Non-random missing data and indicator divergence in energy poverty."
Here are excerpts:
* * *
Energy poverty is measured using a range of expenditure-based and experience-based indicators that differ in their data requirements and the dimensions of hardship they capture. We examined (i) the extent and social patterning of financial data missingness, (ii) how closely different indicators of energy poverty identified the same households,and (iii) the validity of a composite experience-based severity score. In a nationally representative online survey of 1,011 adults in Ireland, participants reported household income, energy expenditure, and six experience-based indicators. Expenditure-based energy poverty was defined as energy expenditure exceeding 10% of disposable household income.
Experience-based energy poverty was defined primarily by inability to afford adequate warmth (IAAW), with five other experience-based indicators combined into a composite severity measure. More than four in ten participants lacked a point estimate for income, energy expenditure, or both, precluding calculation of the 10% indicator for these households. This missingness was not random. Lower educational attainment, lower occupational social grade, and unemployment were significantly associated with being unsure or unwilling to report income or expenditure. Among those with full data, agreement between the 10% and IAAW indicators was weak.
The 10% measure identified twice as many households as the IAAW indicator and the households it identified were less socioeconomically disadvantaged. The composite severity score was sensitive to socioeconomic disadvantage and explained more variation in financial difficulty than IAAW alone. Financial non-response may systematically bias expenditure-based measures of energy poverty by underrepresenting disadvantaged households. Complementary indicators may be preferable for monitoring or policy targeting, rather than reliance on any single measure.
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View the full doc at: https://www.esri.ie/system/files/publications/WP848.pdf
[Category: ThinkTank]
Economic & Social Research Institute: 'Economic Outlook: A Medium-term Review of the Irish Health and Social Care System'
DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov. 11 (TNSLrpt) -- The Economic and Social Research Institute issued the following research series on October 20, 2026, entitled "Economic outlook: A medium-term review of the Irish health and social care system."
Here are excerpts:
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Ireland's growing and ageing population is projected to significantly increase demand for a range of health and social care services in the coming years. Responding to these increasing demands, several plans and measures are in place to address the growing capacity requirements. While it is somewhat unclear how successful these measures will
... Show Full Article
DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov. 11 (TNSLrpt) -- The Economic and Social Research Institute issued the following research series on October 20, 2026, entitled "Economic outlook: A medium-term review of the Irish health and social care system."
Here are excerpts:
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Ireland's growing and ageing population is projected to significantly increase demand for a range of health and social care services in the coming years. Responding to these increasing demands, several plans and measures are in place to address the growing capacity requirements. While it is somewhat unclear how successful these measures willbe in meeting the totality of future health and social care needs, there is an ongoing concern about the fiscal sustainability of the health and social care system. While Ireland's population is relatively young, approximately one-quarter of current government expenditure was allocated to health and social care in 2025, one of the highest proportions among European countries. Even within this budget, access to some healthcare services remains curtailed, with long waits for a range of services, and the majority of the population continues to pay out of pocket for primary care services.
The international literature identifies a range of potential policy options to ensure the fiscal sustainability of healthcare systems in light of changing demographic trends. These include saving for future expenditure requirements, exploring alternative financing mechanisms, reallocating or increasing public expenditure, improving efficiency and maximising population health. In this context, a number of measures are ongoing in Ireland, including saving for the future through the Future Ireland Fund and driving efficiency gains, in particular within the hospital setting. Other policy options, such as seeking alternative financing mechanisms (generally from private sources) and continuing to increase the allocation of public expenditure to healthcare, are likely to be less viable in the Irish context. Increased consideration could be given to policies which positively impact population health, both as a means of improving the quality of life of the population and reducing demand for health and social care services.
In addition to its impact on the health and social care system, demographic change will also have implications for other areas of government expenditure, including pensions. Demographic changes are occurring alongside a range of other major challenges, including an uncertain geopolitical environment, digitalisation (including rapid development in artificial intelligence), climate change and decarbonisation. These challenges also bring potential opportunities for the economy and society as a whole, and specifically for the healthcare system. However, a cross-government and agency approach is required to harness all potential benefits, to ensure the fiscal sustainability of the healthcare system and the economy at large over the medium term.
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View the full doc at: https://www.esri.ie/system/files/publications/EO02.pdf
[Category: ThinkTank]
