The political perils of good economics

‘To be Irish is to know that in the end the world will break your heart.” You can usually tell a lazy opinion writer by the number of pithy quotes they use. But it’s worth breaking my rule this one time because Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s words give me pause when thinking about Ireland’s recovery.

I live in Limerick and I can hear the chest-thumping from the government all the way down here. “Ireland ...