Monday Blog: Nothing comes from nothing: the case of health
Health is better than gold or ‘is fearr an tsláinte ná an t-ór’ as the saying goes in Irish. Economists and statisticians tend to think of health as a cost as well as a sphere of activity involving consumption of resources in the present time. Health, however, has two dimensions: (i) It is a state...
NERI seminar: Ireland’s daunting climate change challenge
The latest NERI seminar, 'Ireland’s daunting climate change challenge in the period to 2030: how to respond?', was held on 2 December. Joseph Curtin, Research Fellow at the Institute of International and European Affairs on climate policy, provided an overview of Ireland’s climate change challenge...
INMO Conference Presentation slides: Funding of health to 2035
External event contribution Funding of health and demographic change - Dr Tom Healy and Paul Goldrick-Kelly
Monday Blog: What is a prudent fiscal space?
One of the impacts of the recent economic crisis is that new expressions have been added to the English language, as spoken here. One such example is ‘fiscal space’. When the economy is growing there is, at one and the same time, more demand for public services (more school pupils and more demand...
UK Autumn Statement and Spending Review
The Autumn Statement delivered today by Chancellor of The Exchequer George Osborne will in all likelihood be remembered for one significant U-turn. The dramatic reversal on planned changes to tax credits represents a big win for opponents of the policy in Westminster and beyond. The total proposed...
NERI Seminar Dublin: Fiscal Priorities for Long-Run Growth
The latest NERI seminar looked at the Irish economy’s recent performance and considered its medium-and-long-term prospects for growth. Over the course of the presentation a range of policy reforms to increase the economy’s long-run potential output were identified and discussed. Dr McDonnell set out...
Monday Blog: Why Northern Ireland needs a real fresh economic start
While economic recovery is evident in both jurisdictions there has been a worrying acceleration in job losses in Northern Ireland with some very significant losses expected in JTI Galagher and Michelin Tyres, both in Ballymena as well as 100 job losses in the US Engineering company, Caterpillar...
Monday Blog: Economic uncertainty
(this blog was composed prior to the recent tragic events in Paris. My thoughts and prayer are with the people of France and all nations suffering from acts of war and terror). Best of Times? was the title of a book published by researchers at the ESRI in the summer of 2007. The book followed on...
What do we really mean by ‘middle earners’?
The recent Budget, and much of the commentary which accompanied it, contained recurring references to ‘middle-earners’ – almost all of it without any basis in the various numbers available on the Irish income and earnings distribution. New data from the Revenue Commissioners, published following...
NERI Post Budget Seminar
The NERI seminar series resumed yesterday with an analysis of Budget 2016—presentations from each of the three speakers are available below. The speakers outlined the budgetary choices facing Irish society with a special focus on issues related to childcare and housing. Thanks to Michael Taft (...