Author: Karl Whelan

Daniel Thomas: Irish Bail-Out Terms Endanger EU’s Future

Here‘s an article by my UCD colleague Daniel Thomas that makes an important argument. If the Irish authorities are to get anywhere in relation to getting a better deal on issues such as the interest rates on official loans or dealing with our banking problems, they cannot rely on arguments based on narrow self interest.

Dan points to the dangers to the EU political reform process stemming from Ireland getting a bad deal. I think one can also argue that a deeper role for the EU in solving Ireland’s banking crisis can also be justified on the grounds that it can help to maintain financial stability throughout the Eurozone.

Ireland First Blueprint Document

Via Namawinelake, here‘s the up-to-now secret “Blueprint for Ireland’s Recovery” that has been produced by a group that apparently call themselves Ireland First. As you’ve probably heard, the group includes businessmen like Dermot Desmond and Denis O’Brien as well as various grandees with links to Fine Gael (John Bruton, Frank Flannery, Peter Sutherland), Fianna Fail (Ray McSharry) and Labour (Dick Spring).

Naturally, given that it’s an economic recovery plan, there isn’t an economist in sight. And, as is often the way with non-economist plans, it’s mainly a long laundry list of stuff the group would like to see happen combined with ambitious claims and targets related to what might happen if the chosen policies were adopted. Many of the policies proposed are sensible, some less so.

I particularly disliked this bit: “There needs to be a positive engagement with editorial and ownership/senior management of media organisations in order to ensure we have balanced coverage and that good news stories are covered.”  Ah yes, the meeja need to stop talking down the economy.  Some things never change.

Central Bank PCAR Stress Scenarios

The Central Bank has published the macroeconomic scenarios for its 2011 Prudential Capital Assessment Review (PCAR).

CCCTB Proposals

The Commission’s new proposals for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) are available here.

Monetary Dialogue Briefing Papers: March 2011

The latest collection of briefing papers for the European Parliament’s Monetary Dialogue with the ECB are available here. One set of papers (including one by me) discuss bank and sovereign debt resolutions (this paper is the source of my comments here on senior bank bonds). The other set discuss the issue of Eurobonds.