Brownlow: Fabricating Economic Development

A paper by Graham Brownlow from the ESR edition just before Christmas:

"Abstract: Much of the literature, regardless of academic discipline, presents the publication of Economic Development in 1958 as analogous to a “big bang” event in the creation of modern Ireland. However, such a “big bang” perspective misrepresents the sophistication of economic debates prior to Whitaker’s report as well as distorting the interpretation of subsequent developments. This paper reappraises Irish economic thinking before and after the publication of Economic Development. It is argued that an economically “liberal” approach to Keynesianism, such as that favoured by T. K. Whitaker and George O’Brien, lost out in the 1960s to a more interventionist approach: only later did a more liberal approach to macroeconomic policy triumph. The rival approaches to academic economics were in turn linked to wider debates on the influence of religious authorities on Irish higher education. Academic economists were particularly concerned with preserving their intellectual independence and how a shift to planning would keep decisions on resource allocation out of the reach of conservative political and religious leaders."

Lehigh University Irish Economy Conference April 7/8

Lehigh University will host a conference on the Irish Economy on April 7-8. Full details are available on this website.

Lane - Irish Economic Crisis

Philip Lane's recently released paper on the Irish economic crisis is available on this link:

"Ireland is in the midst of a severe crisis. While the global financial crisis has affected all economies to varying degrees, it has been especially severe in Ireland with a cumulative nominal GDP decline of 21 percent from Q4 2007 to Q3 2010. This ranks Ireland among the worst-affected countries in terms of output performance during this period (Lane and Milesi-Ferretti 2010)."

Irish Economy: Grounds for Optimism?

John McHale has a good post on irisheconomy about the relatively good news coming from Irish gnp/gdp figures.

Krugman on Ireland

Via IrishEconomy Paul Krugman on the Irish Economy. Krugman is arguing that the Irish taxpayer is practically being eaten to bail out reckless lenders and financial institutions.

"Free college tuition has failed to open doors to all"

Sean Flynn in the Irish Times today emphasizes that socio-economic factors are still key in deciding whether someone attends university or not.

Upcoming Talks on Science, Innovation and the Economy

10th November: Panel Discussion: What's Smart about Ireland's Smart Economy in 2010?
A panel discussion with Dick Ahlstrom (chairman), Science Editor of the Irish Times; Professor John FitzGerald, ESRI; Dr Brian Kelly, CEO of Celtic Catalysts; Karlin Lillington, Technology journalist, Sean O’Driscoll (CEO Glen Dimplex) and Ferdinand von Prondzynski, former President of Dublin City University.

Organisers: Royal Irish Academy and the Irish Times
Admission is free but booking is essential.

11th November: The Long Debate: Debate on the Innovation Taskforce Report
Taking place in the NDRC on the 11th of November, the debate will draw on the findings of the Innovation Taskforce report.

Launched in March 2010, the report sets out recommendations for developing Ireland into an International Innovation Hub. Members of the Taskforce, including some of Ireland’s leading economic commentators, industry and government members, academics, creatives and entrepreneurs will be in attendance to discuss the nature of innovation within Ireland.

Organisers: Inventorium
Debate: 19.00-22.00
NDRC, Crane St, Digital Hub, Dublin 8
Registration for this event is essential.

17th November: Panel Discussion: Can Science be a Business?
A panel discussion with Dick Ahlstrom (chairman), Science Editor of the Irish Times; Professor Luke O’Neill, TCD; Dr Ena Prosser, Fountain Healthcare Partners; Professor Mark O’Malley, UCD; Professor Emmeline Hill (UCD).

Organisers: Royal Irish Academy and the Irish Times
Admission is free but booking is essential.

The psychology of our bankers

The extensive analysis of the banking and economic crisis has been dominated by economic and finance experts. But on the surface anyway much of the explanation lies in psychology. So it is timely that the Irish Times carries a piece today by Vicky Menzies and Ken McKenzie providing a psychological analysis of bankers behaviour in the run up to the crisis.

Freefall Part 2

RTE's documentary about the property crash and banking crisis is available on this link. UCD's Morgan Kelly emerges as a somewhat prophetic figure from the documentary. He himself would generally say that he called the bust when it had become obvious it was going to happen. But it is clear that very few others saw it as obvious even by 2006 and that he took an enormous reputational gamble in coming off the fence so emphatically, accruing a large amount of powerful enemies in the process who would have completely and utterly thrashed him had his predictions turned out to be incorrect.  In particular, Morgan pointed out with crystal clarity the full implications of the Irish banking system's reliance on property and what the crash would do to bank balance sheets and the consequent effect this would have on the overall national financial position. Economists generally do not welcome introspection but we really need to have some sessions on what this bust has taught us about how Economics is taught and how Economists are embedded in public policy.