The Productivity Puzzle and Northern Ireland
Over the last two years, the UK economy has experienced stagnating output growth alongside increasing total employment. This counter-intuitive situation has come to be known as the "Productivity Puzzle". Northern Ireland has experienced a similar dynamic over the last two years. There is no...
Monday Blog: Investment is still the key
Unemployment is the biggest single problem confronting Europe today. Ireland is no exception. With one in seven out of work, here, and one in four young people either out of work or not in education or training currently we are faced with a huge challenge. President Michael D. Higgins is correct to...
Images from first Annual Dónal Nevin Lecture - 2013
Below is a selection of pictures of the first annual Donal Nevin Lecture given by President Michael D. Higgins.
Monday Blog: President gives inaugural Donal Nevin lecture
President M.D. Higgins speaking with Tom Healy 'The work of this Institute, and others like it, is critical in advancing reasoned moral arguments about how the issues of work, employment, unemployment and social security are to be approached' said President Michael D. Higgins at the inaugural Dónal...
Monday Blog: If Governments were really only like households
A visitor from outer space might be forgiven for concluding that the only or main economic problem confronting European States was deficit and debts - Government deficits and debts. The corollary of this problem is - of course - austerity to cure the ailment. Or is it? Lets compare the Government...
Fiscal Stimulus, Unemployment and House Prices
The latest NERI seminar, from Kieran McQuinn and Robert Kelly of the Central Bank, examined the relationship between unemployment and house prices and used this relationship to examine the impact on banking defaults / mortgage defaults of economic growth. Modelling a fiscal stimulus of €2b, they...
NERI Seminar: On the hook for impaired bank lending - Do sovereign-bank inter-linkages affect the fiscal multiplier?
Given the difficulties in the Irish mortgage market, this paper assesses the implications for the Irish fiscal accounts due to the unique relationship between the sovereign and its main financial institutions. Macroeconomic policies, which reduce the loan impairments on the balance sheets of the...
Tax Revenue Stability and Corporation Tax
One of the lessons of the recent economic collapse (I hope!) has been the importance of a stable tax base. Total stability is impossible for a small open economy like Ireland; we will always have swings in economic performance which will alter the volume of economic transactions and tax revenues...
Monday Blog: Households and Governments: how they differ
The gap between what the Government in Ireland takes in and what it spends is running at a rate of €1 billion every month. Clearly this is not sustainable in the long-run because it adds to the total amount of debt owed by citizens year after year. The total amount of debt owed by the Government on...
Monday Blog: Where do we go from here?
Public debate about matters of public concern in Ireland has been characterised in a number of ways. I suggest that the following traits may be stronger than elsewhere in the world and could reflect deep and enduring historical factors: There is a disproportionate emphasis on 'survival' with the...