Mega-projects raise the question of where private decision-making, private funding and private risk-taking should be preferred, and where public decision-making and action-taking is necessary.
The domestic economy’s demand for goods grew by 4.5% last year. The Irish economy is growing. It looks strong. So do the public finances. So far, so boring. But, as Tom Waits once sang, the large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.
Ireland is by far the most successful country in the EU at integrating migrants, and it’s vital that debate on the issue is not allowed to descend into emotional soundbites.
The reality is that if international trade and dealings are not governed by some set of rules, then size is all that matters. A world like that is very dangerous for just under five million people living on an island on the western edge of Europe.
People need jobs, certainty and a settlement which allows them to prosper. But despite more than two years spent negotiating with the EU, a deal seems further away than ever
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Why should US or Indian or Chinese monetary policy concern Ireland? So much of what we call ‘industrial policy’ here is really policy for US-based multinationals. Changes to the banking system in the US, and more importantly business conditions there, can signal either good or bad times for us.
