Ireland has experienced the largest destruction of wealth of any developed country during the 2007–10 economic crisis. Understanding Ireland's Economic Crisis brings together policy makers, union representatives and internationally recognised academics to examine Ireland's crisis from many different angles. The objective of this book is to provide an understanding of what caused the crisis and to develop a set of key recommendations to guide Ireland's policy makers into a post-crisis era. Understanding Ireland's Economic Crisis is written for a general audience, and should be of great interest to policy makers, researchers and students. Contributors: Stephen Kinsella (UL), Anthony Leddin (UL), Colm McCarthy (UCD), Brendan Walsh (UCD), Michael O'Sullivan (Credit Suisse), Ronan Lyons (University of Oxford, Daft.ie), Eoin Gahan (Forfás), Morgan Kelly (UCD), Michael Taft (UNITE), Edward Nell (New School for Social Research), K.P.V. O'Sullivan (London School of Economics) and K. Vela Velupillai (University of Trento).

This collection examines the Irish economic phenomenon of the Celtic Tiger and the financial disaster that came in its wake, from a socio-cultural perspective. It focuses on how these financial developments have been reflected in writing, film and culture in order to offer a more rounded analysis of the effects of this momentous period on people’s lives. Employing a wide range of cultural lenses, the book critiques the cultural, political and aesthetic implications of the progression from prosperity to austerity and the impact this has had on the psyche of Irish culture. An eclectic mix of theoretical approaches enables treatment of religion, literature, popular culture, photography, gastronomy, music, gender, immigration and film, as contributors assess how the Celtic Tiger was represented, or misrepresented, in these particular spheres of experience. In addition, the chapters also probe the effects on all of the aforementioned cultural forms, and interrogate how the lives of people have been transformed in ways that go beyond the already well-documented areas of economics and finance. The book will be a valuable resource for academics and students interested in contemporary Ireland and recent Irish history, as well as the general reader anxious to understand the effects of this particular period on the real lives of people as expressed through culture. It features contributions by internationally acknowledged experts in their fields and offers a comprehensive overview of the cultural consequences of the Celtic Tiger and its aftermath.

This insightful book shows how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from some of the traditionally less dynamic peripheral economies of the old EU namely Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain have responded to the twin challenges of globalisation and industrial restructuring. Through a series of unique case studies the contributing authors discuss how these economies, and in particular the SME sector, can be transformed. The book begins by examining the key drivers of the globally competitive SME sector in the EU, before moving on to explore the relationship between multinational enterprises (MNEs), SMEs and industrial development. The authors investigate important policy implications and provide lessons for SME development and growth. With empirical and theoretical contributions on SMEs in both the manufacturing and the services sectors, this essential book will be invaluable for researchers and policymakers in small business economics and management. Postgraduate students of entrepreneurship, business economics, industrial economics and European studies will appreciate this unique set of insights.

OECD's 2009 review of Ireland's economy. This edition's special feature covers the labour market in Ireland.

This book offers a discerning narrative on the spectacular rise and fall of the so-called Celtic Tiger economy. It depicts Ireland as a micro-state with a unique reliance on foreign-assisted businesses, driven in part by a favourable taxation regime. It shows that rent-seeking by trades unions and property developers contributed to the fall since 2002. Although the country’s highly centralized government’s pre-disposition to lobbying has yielded international successes, it has also resulted in recurring self-inflicted crises since 1970. This volume shows how Ireland’s export-led growth is associated more with the attraction of foreign-assisted businesses than with the development of critical masses of internationally competitive indigenous businesses. Although the success of foreign-assisted businesses in the pharmaceutical, ICT and finance sectors has been influenced by tax advantages, many of these businesses have been involved in highly productive activity in Ireland over a number of decades. The problem of rent-seeking is shown to have undermined Irish competitiveness in the internationally traded and sheltered sectors. The Irish policy mind-set is shown to lean towards distribution rather than growth. While this has been advantageous for how ‘Ireland Inc.’ interacts with other governments and international businesses, it has also resulted in a failure to resist the destructive effects of capture by lobbies. In conclusion, this book considers future opportunities offered by the EU’s smart-specialization policy and future threats from increased international tax competition. It argues that unless Irish citizens and policymakers change deep-seated attitudes and mind-sets towards business development, the country’s performance for the next number of decades will more likely resemble serial under-achievement than that of a high-performing EU state.

By 2000, Ireland had achieved a remarkable macroeconomic performance: 10% economic growth annually, a budget surplus, and a very low debt to GDP ratio. Emigration had disappeared and there was significant immigration from Eastern Europe. Yet, by November 2010, output had collapsed to an extent unprecedented among post war industrial countries, the budget deficit was out of control, and the debt to GDP ratio had soared to around 100%. In an unprecedented development, Ireland was forced to apply for an emergency bail-out package from the Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund). This book examines how the Celtic Tiger, a high growth performing economy, fell into a macroeconomic abyss. It is a story that shows how the Irish economy moved from a property market crisis to a banking crisis and fiscal crisis, and how these three crises led to a fourth crisis, the massive financial crisis of 2010. Against the backdrop of the newly created Eurozone, the book demonstrates how a housing boom was transformed into a property market bubble through excessive credit creation. Accompanying the market bubble, buoyant property related taxes enabled a profligate government to over spend and under tax. Few, either in Ireland or Europe, recognised the danger signals because the prevailing economic ideology suggested that financial markets could self-regulate. The book analyses the roles of banks, builders, developers, regulators (the EU, the ECB, the Central Bank of Ireland, and the Irish Financial Regulator), politicians, economists, the media, and a property driven populace during the various stages of the downfall of the Celtic Tiger. It pays particular attention to the decisions to provide a highly controversial comprehensive guarantee for the covered Irish banks in 2008, and the subsequent events that left the government with no alternative but to request the 2010 bail out. Throughout the book, attention is devoted to the allocation of responsibilities for the unfolding crises. First, who or what was responsible for what happened and in what sense? Second, could specific actions have been taken at various stages to prevent the final recourse to the bail out? Finally, the book addresses the future of the Celtic Tiger. It discusses the impact of measures to help resolve the current Euro debt crisis as well as the underlying lessons to be learned from this traumatic period in Ireland's economic and financial history.

Containing thirteen chapters by Indian and European scholars and practitioners,this volume critically examines the multifarious domestic and external challenges that Pakistan confronts today. It discusses the vicissitudes of the European Union’s relations with Pakistan and the cultural, economic, political and military relations of Central Europe and key European countries—France, Germany and the United Kingdom—with Pakistan. The study highlights the different approaches of India and the European Union towards the Kashmir dispute and the considerations, concerns and policy of the EU towards democracy promotion in Pakistan. It also seeks to answer the question whether the relationship between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Pakistan is a transactional relationship or an enduring partnership. The book analyses the problems faced by Pakistan’s oil and gas sector and the challenges and opportunities for European companies to expand Pakistan’s energy basket. The volume examines the nature, dynamics and challenges of social integration and political participation by the Pakistani diaspora in the United Kingdom. It also explores the political context that shapes both policy and discourse on immigrant integration with special reference to the Pakistani diaspora’s lived experience in three Scandinavian countries. The study will be of interest to all those engaged in the fields of political science, international relations, European politics and foreign policy and Indian and South Asian politics and foreign policy.