I’m afraid I must disagree with my distinguished colleague Eamonn Walsh’s arguments in today’s Irish Times about the Anglo 10 loans. Walsh argues that “to state in the Dáil or elsewhere that the Anglo 10 “were given” €450 million is patently incorrect” and that “The most likely outcome is a wealth transfer that was somewhat less than €40 million.”
Let’s recall the details here.
In a further indication of the rapidity of the decline in Irish economic activity, the CSO‘s Live Register release reports a standardised unemployment rate of 10.4% in February up from 5.0% one year earlier. One reason the figure is so high is that unemployment rates from previous months were revised up (January’s rate was revised up from 9.2% to 9.6%) as they were benchmarked to the QNHS estimates for September-November. (Brendan Walsh had predicted such a revision in his post on the QNHS release.) Even controlling for that, the pace at which the economy is contracting is remarkable.
Read the article by Jim O’Leary in today’s Irish Times.
The current crisis certainly requires the economics research community to reflect on the appropriate allocation of research effort in terms of topics and methods. Willem Buiter gives his views here.
Colm McCarthy is profiled in today’s Irish Times: you can read it here. (Includes several excerpts from his blogging on this site!)