Author: Stephen Kinsella

Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Limerick.

Where are the pots and pans?

From Barry Cannon and Mary Murphy, this article examines an important question I’m sure many people have wondered about–given the scale of the macroeconomic downturn, especially in 2008 and 2009, why were there not more mass protests in the Irish case?

The article, published in Irish Political Studies is free for the moment. The abstract is below, and it seems the authors conclude we just didn’t have enough of a crisis to warrant mass demonstrations.

Update: Thanks to Michael Hennigan here is a slide deck of the paper (.pdf)

Since 2008, Ireland has experienced a profound multi-faceted crisis, stemming from the collapse of the financial and property sectors. Despite enduring six years of neoliberal austerity measures in response to this situation, popular protest has been muted. Using Silva’s [(2009) Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press)] framework of analysis of popular responses in Latin America to that region’s debt crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, this article seeks to investigate why this has been the case. We assess how the crisis is being framed among popular and civil society groups, and whether increased associational and collective power is developing. In doing so, we look at processes of intra-group cooperation, cross-group cooperation and framing and brokerage mechanisms. We then ask, where such processes exist, if they can lead to a comprehensive challenge to the neoliberal policies currently being implemented, as happened in much of Latin America. We conclude that the crisis has not yet reached sufficient depth or longevity to foster a more robust popular response, but propose that analysis of similar processes in Latin America can help us understand better why this is the case, not just in Ireland, but in other countries of Europe experiencing similar situations.

Inequality in the Irish Context

John FitzGerald’s ESRI piece has added to the debate on income inequality in the Irish context, with some reaction from TASC’s Cormac Staunton, the Irish Times’ Chris Johns, and some other guy giving the flavour of the exchanges from right and left.

Edit: I think David’s forthcoming ESR piece (.pdf) is a real contribution to the debate and should be noted up here, too.

 

SME Market Report

I was, rather lazily, waiting for someone else to post this, but the SME market report by the Central Bank is an important new resource, complete with data and tables in usable formats. The report is good collage-type work that deserves an airing. Let’s hope we see follow up reports in the same manner to give us a better picture of how the sector is evolving post-bailout.

Summer Book List

Dear readers, could we have some recommendations for books for summer holidays in the comments?

If you leave a link to the amazon page (or whatever), that is perfect, but the blog’s software will stop more than one link being posted at a time.

This is totally uncorrelated to my own upcoming holiday. Honest.

(Like Ronan’s last post, I’ve read Piketty’s Capital and thoroughly enjoyed it, though the man really could have done with an editor).

Latest Irish Fiscal Advisory Council report out

Here.

It is summarised in the FT by Vincent Boland, and the detailed appendices are worth reading, particularly the discussion of the estimation of potential output.