Fiscal Tightening and Economic Growth

A detailed analysis of cross-country covariation patterns is available in the PIIE report by Paolo Mauro and Jan Zilinsky here.

The Eurozone Crisis: A Consensus View of the Causes and a Few Possible Solutions

There is a new VOXEU ebook with contributions on this topic – here.  (My contribution is on “International financial flows and the Eurozone crisis”.)

The Fiscal Council has a vacancy for an economist

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has a vacancy for an economist, details are here. Closing date is the 16th of September.

Review of Leaving Certificate Economics

Drs Aedin Doris, Kevin Denny and I wrote a response to the consultation paper on the review of leaving cert economics for the Irish Economic Association.

The consultation paper is here (.pdf). The response is here (.pdf). 

Save the Date: September 30 Conference on Higher Education Funding in Maynooth

On Wednesday, September 30, we are holding a one-day conference on ‘Higher Education Funding: Drawing on the International Experience’ in Maynooth.

The context for this conference is the debate on how to fund higher education in Ireland. In 2014, the Minister for Education established an Expert Group on Future Funding for Higher Education, and the motivation for the conference is to inform the discussion about the choice of funding options available; we have a particular interest in the interaction between funding mechanisms and differential access to higher education along socioeconomic lines.

International speakers include Sara Goldrick-Rab of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has written extensively on the issue of higher education funding in the US; Claire Crawford of Warwick University and the IFS, who has written several detailed analyses of the UK system; and Bruce Chapman of the Australian National University, whose name is particularly associated with income-contingent student loans, both in terms of his academic research and his role as policy advisor to many governments.

Local speakers include Rory O’Donnell of NESC and Delma Byrne of Maynooth University.

The conference will be open to all. I’ll post further details here in the coming weeks.

Update: Full details are now available here.