Despite having a younger population than most high-income countries, we spend far more per person on health than the OECD average. And our health system is still a mess. We need to start looking hard at where exactly the money is going, or costs will just keep rising
What determines an economy’s prosperity is its productivity: how the workers and firms in the economy use their knowledge and skills to make things or deliver services people want
The second policy response to fast-paced changes in the nature of work and its attendant rise in earnings inequality is to set up a universal basic income programme. This is money everyone gets transferred into their bank account every month, regardless of their age or income level. Think of it as child benefit, but for everyone.
Globotics, the combination of globalisation and robotics, is on the horizon and Ireland must prepare now
Blame it on a post-colonial fantasy, but there’s nothing imaginary about the damage Brexit will do to Britain, and to us
Firms all over Dublin administer parts of the global shadow banking system, but it is the Irish Central Bank which has built up the first fully formed picture of this world. Others now need to share what they know about this intriguing arm of the financial system
Unless we have good data and good oversight of the shadow banks operating in Ireland, where they come from and what they’re here for, we cannot understand the likely consequences for us when they hit good or bad times
It is important that we ask the right questions. It is vitally important that we understand the degree of uncertainty of any answer
The national finances are once again becoming heavily dependent on one narrow, highly profitable sector of the economy. Sound familiar?
Faced with a massive accumulated deficit in housing, health and education, the only tools we have available to us are fiscal policy and luck. We know from the past that luck eventually runs out.
Born of the much-maligned Maastricht Treaty, the single currency is the end result of two different schools of European economic thought being fused together with some very fuzzy language
Today, I want to finish my series on what the state gets right by looking at the state’s response to Brexit since 2015. Yes, you read that correctly: 2015. I also want to reflect on what the state is doing to get us ready for the future.
From running our libraries to helping vulnerable children, to buying things in a smart way, to using technology to get us new passports and new services, to helping guide policy, the state is doing more for us than any of us know.
With the border backstop safely secured, Ireland’s next move must be to help Britain through the cataclysm of Brexit and resist the temptation to kick it when it’s down
You’ll hear all about it when health organisations get something wrong, as you should. They are dealing with vulnerable people and should always aim to improve. But will you hear about it when they get things right, and make things better for people?
