Debate on Wage Cuts

The Irish Times features a debate on wage cuts between representatives of IBEC and ICTU: you can find it here.

It is open to question whether framing the policy issue as involving adversarial conflict between employers and workers is especially useful. Rather, it involves primarily a trade-off between lower current average incomes for higher future average incomes.  If the ‘debate’ format is to be followed, a more interesting lineup might be to include a representative of those not currently working (today’s unemployed, emigrants, students and others not participating in the labour force).

The Science of Spending Stimulus Money Wisely

The New York Times carries an interesting article on the role of spending on science projects as part of a stimulus package.

Energy Policy Issues for Ireland

The ESRI held a conference on this topic this week: you can download the presentations here.

Annual statement on the euro area

The European Commission has released its annual report on the euro area  – this is very helpful in providing a comparative perspective on Ireland in relation to the other member states of the euro area and in communicating the ‘Brussels view’ on economic events.

The full report and other materials are available here.

Upcoming SSISI events

SSISI have a very interesting schedule for this term:  full details here.