His latest speech is here.
Honohan Gives His Views
- Post author By Philip Lane
- Post date November 23, 2010
- Categories In Bailout, Banking Crisis
- Tags Honohan Irish banks
- 35 Comments on Honohan Gives His Views
Author: Philip Lane
The IMF has just released a new Staff Position Note 
Lifting Euro Area Growth: Priorities for Structural Reforms and Governance
[One of the co-authors is Ajai Chopra]
Its recommendations for Ireland are:
1. In relation to the labour market:
- Introduce gradual decrease of benefits over time of unemployment spell and stricter job search requirements
- Provide more resources to the unemployment agencies (FÁS) to provide efficient job search assistance to the growing number of unemployed
- Review the level of minimum wage to make it consistent with the general fall in wages
2. In relation to improving competitiveness:
- Reform planning and licensing systems in net work industries, so as to increase competition in sheltered services sectors
- Focus public resources on high-priority projects in the knowledge-based economy
The statement is available here.
This analysis piece in the FT provides a useful timeline of the international dynamics behind the bailout.
Antonio Garcia Pascual and Piero Ghezzi explain how a combination of a bank restructuring/recapitalisation fund and a line of credit for the sovereign can stabilise the Irish situation in this report.
Note: In relation to the discussion of the Goldman Sachs report (and presumably similar comments can be made about this report from Barclays Capital), it is certainly sensible to be aware of potential institutional biases. However, the individual economists working at these types of institutions are typically top quality (PhDs from top-level universities, strong academic publication records and/or experience in policy organisations) and, beyond any institutional pressures, have powerful individual career incentives to maintain a reputation for high-quality macroeconomic analysis.