Government Debt - We're not out of the woods yet
Changes in government debt over time reflect the impact of government deficits. The sustainability of the national debt depends on the scale of the debt in relation to the size of the economy. The government debt-to-GDP ratio is the amount of a country’s total gross government debt as a percentage...
Monday Blog: Budgeting for the future
The proposed budget for 2016 (Republic of Ireland) will go for approval by the relevant European authorities in the coming weeks. One can expect a favourable outcome from that quarter albeit with a caution that the Government ought to be spending less and paying down more of the national debt. In...
Monday Blog: Living long and living well?
It is widely accepted that the issue of pensions is a boring subject. Curiously, interest in pensions is found to be highly correlated with age so that someone starting out in paid work in their 20’s regards the matter as remote, distant and … boring. In any case the proportion of new hires and...
Budget 2016, Taxes and Growth
Budget 2016 is close at hand and inevitably, and unfortunately, the debate has been characterised by loud and persistent campaigning by the anti-tax lobby. It seems every day brings new calls for tax breaks for one interest group or another. Yet there is limited fiscal space and we cannot afford to...
Monday Blog: A roof over your head
A roof over one’s head and a safe, comfortable and healthy place that can be called home is a fundamental human right. Just as the issue of land was a central social concern and point of conflict in 19 th century Ireland, the question of accommodation was central to the social movement associated...
Monday Blog: The rising cost of health
Human health is the number one priority for people. Living a healthy life and enjoying well-being of mind and health of body is something that we all aspire to. Public policy can play a vital role in informing, equipping and resourcing people to achieve better health. As Irish society ages there...
Employees and the Self-Employed: an earnings profile
Despite its relevance to broad areas of public policy, detailed assessments of the structure and distribution of the income of workers in the Republic of Ireland has been limited. The latest NERI Research inBrief examines the distribution of work related earnings for both employees and the self...
Little point in many mothers returning to work
It makes little financial sense for many Irish mothers to return to work – that’s the conclusion of a new EU research study looking at the realities of the back-to-work choice faced by women across EU member states. The study, by Olga Rastrigina and Alina Verashchagina, focuses on the financial...
Recent changes in public sector employment in OECD countries
The scale of public sector employment varies considerably across developed economies; however, the vast majority of EU member states are in a process of reducing the size of central government employment—between 2008 and 2013, Sweden was the only EU country that increased the number of general...