These are really awful numbers (H/T Eurointelligence).
Category: Fiscal Policy
Given that Irish politicians and media have decided that Leo Varadkar’s comments about Ireland probably having to get a second EU-IMF deal is some kind of faux pas, it is perhaps worth pointing out that this opinion is widely shared by pretty much everyone I have to talked to in recent months.
Anyway, given that this issue is being discussed, now might be a good time to put up a link to this talk that I gave at the IIEA a few weeks ago. I discuss the risks relating to the current EU-IMF plan the likelihood of the need for a new deal. The slides for the talk are also on the page.
Here‘s a link to an article I wrote for Business and Finance that (somewhat belatedly) discusses the government’s jobs initiative and its financing. (The headline I had provided was the probably too obscure to be funny “A Worthwhile Irish Jobs Initative?”)
The ESRI held a conference on pensions policy this morning. Presentations from the conference are available here.
Here is a short article on crisis resolution strategies that I wrote for Eolas magazine. It was written before the debate over Morgan Kelly’s new resolution proposals. The piece contrasts a Plan A — involving a phased fiscal and banking adjustment, offiical assistance to cover funding shortfalls, and absorption of significant banking losses — with a Plan B that has an earlier focus on debt reduction. Morgan’s proposals — a Plan C? — combine immediate elimination of the borrowing requirement with eschewal of both official assistance and responsibility for bank losses.