Ronan Lyons

Housing, cities, history. Often at the same time. Professor @tcdeconomics, Co-Director @ceph_ie. Dad of 3, husband of 1. Soccer/rugby fan.

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

My online course on the Economics of the Property Market is back and we're looking forward to having lots of you on it in 2021! See link (and next tweet) for more details - and if you sign up, the discount code twtr2021 will get you a reduced rate...
https://t.co/jYL6ZhqUIi

[David McWilliams @davidmcw]

Podcast time.

Here's the first of a three part series on housing. 1. where the irish housing crisis is now, 2. how did we get here and 3. how do we fix it with the brilliant @ronanlyons

Hope you enjoy it.
https://t.co/YHkStP7EXs

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@jkrimmel @arpitrage @riccoja My Irish econ history module goes to 2019!

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@Eamonnmoran @eurofound The size of the rental sector in the last 20y in OECD is probably a bit larger than in the previous 30-40 but is still well below the historical norm from mid/late 19C to mid 20C. Renter share is an unusual metric for neolib'n given it would imply DE/AT/CH are "most" neolib.

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

Ireland is not unique in Europe when it comes to failing its younger adults on housing. It's just one of the more extreme cases. My latest piece for The Currency drawing on cross-country research I contributed to for @eurofound.
https://t.co/hSfAyF1y5h

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@Eamonnmoran @eurofound What is unique about Ireland on the demand side is the combined force of both unexpected population growth (not enjoyed by our Euro peers) and fall in underlying household size (shared by pretty much everyone). That combo means v strong demand - as well as weak supply.

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@Eamonnmoran @eurofound Neo-liberalisation would imply, if anything, very responsive supply (cf. Texas). The problem in the Irish housing system over the last 2-3 decades has been the ossification, the making brittle, of the housing system. Not over-regulation but bad regulation/policy.

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

My online course, The Economics of the Property Market, is back! Registration now live for March 2 start. Across 4 sessions, you'll learn about the core economics needed, supply and demand for housing & the principles for good policy. More here...
https://t.co/Uvo8yBFlnj

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@Eamonnmoran @pmcondon2 Thanks Eamonn! Rough estimate is that housing demand has grown at least ten-fold in the Vancouver area over the half-century or so. Unsurprisingly a 3-fold increase in supply would not be enough and prices would soar as a result.
https://t.co/LSetHy2Uvi

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@MoistlySpeaking @Blue9a @pmcondon2 Per WB, real incomes in Canada have increased 3.1x since 1960. With unit elasticity of housing demand wrt income, this combined with a 3.33x increase in HHs means a 10x increase in housing D since 1960. With only 3x supply, no wonder prices increased!
https://t.co/Yxmkueb5Ie

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

Nearly 800 new homes to be delivered in Dublin 3!
https://t.co/kJgcKF9qWN

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@eoinodr Thanks Eoin!

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

My online course, The Economics of the Property Market, is back! Registration now live for March 2 start. Across 4 sessions, you'll learn about the core economics needed, supply and demand for housing & the principles for good policy. More here...
https://t.co/Uvo8yBFlnj

[Diego Puga @ProfDiegoPuga]

These are 10 of my favourite #UrbanEconomics & #SpatialEconomics articles published in academic journals in 2025, continuing with a tradition started in 2018 (order is alphabetical by first author, no ranking implied):

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

Interesting correlation between the top five in the safety rankings and top five in the migration rankings! (I'd say "don't tell the anti-migration brigade" but I suspect they're happily immune from facts on this anyway.)

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@JackKavanagh12 I wonder could it also update Funda's plan for a giraffe zoo on an island in Dublin Bay.

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

And amazingly (to Irish eyes), not held up because of an Environmental Impact Assessment...

[Antonello Guerrera @antoguerrera]

Coolest underground station in the world?

Rome has just opened the new Line C station “Colosseo”, under Fori Imperiali and Altare della Patria.

It looks like a museum. 🇮🇹

[Michelle Norris @mcmnorris]

Third legal challenge against 402 apartments in Dublin. The practical impact of repeated legal challenges is to make construction on these sites commercially unviable. Many developers can't service debts on stalled sites indefinitely & sell them off. https://t.co/8JDg5vvWga

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@joehas That summary of Irish economic history should be offensive to an educated reader as it strips Irish people of any/all agency. It's a caricature that completely misunderstands the path of Irish economic development in the two centuries to 1850.

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@wwwojtekk Also, just because Marx wouldn't set foot inside a factory doesn't meant that economists then didn't. Just look at Marshall!

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

In no way representative, I know, but out of curiosity, would you support a congestion charge if introduced between the canals in Dublin?
(Just in principle here - obviously yes, lots of details to be worked out.)

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@tbald101 Again, the mental gymnastics required for this are notable. Unemployment actually fell in Dublin 2022Q1-2024Q1 (from 5.8% to 4.6%) as part of a longer fall 2020-2025. It's telling that you keep looking for reasons not to attribute the change in market conditions to supply!

[Ronan Lyons @ronanlyons]

@tbald101 Yes