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 (...
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...