Fine Gael Health Plan

Having been critical of Fine Gael’s “stimulus” plan a few weeks ago, I thought I’d be fair and note that FG’s new health plan — with Dutch-style universal private health insurance as its centrepiece — strikes me as a useful contribution.

With increasing funds for the health service simply not possible over the next few years, we need to figure out how to run our health system in a far more efficient way, and this proposal suggests one way of going about this.  Then again, I’m not at all an expert in health economics.  I’d be interested to hear from those who are about what they think of this plan.

Economists and the Crisis

The Sunday Times examines the role of economists in Ireland during this crisis period: you can read it here.

The Labour Market

Some ‘on the street’ evidence of the state of the job market:

Paul Krugman on the Irish Economy

Paul Krugman gives his views on the Irish Economy (the blog) and the Irish Economy (the real thing) here.

Update:  Paul has now written a longer article on the Irish situation – it is here.

Ireland: The Inside Story

Cormac O’Grada provides an analysis of the Irish economy here (and advertises this blog!).

I liked this insight:

“But no economy is an island, even an island economy.”