Cancellation of Conference on The Developmental Origins of Health

The Geary Institute has asked me to announce that the conference on The Developmental Origins of Health, originally scheduled for October 10, has had to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.  They regret any inconvenience caused.   If you have any queries about this, please contact the Geary Institute directly at geary@ucd.ie .

FT: Osborne wins the battle on austerity

This editorial represents the shift in the UK austerity debate – here.

Grant me microeconomic efficiency, but not yet

It has always struck me that the first order consequence of making it easier for firms to fire people in the middle of a depression would be that…firms would fire more people. And it has never struck me that this would be desirable.

Now Gauti Eggertsson, Andrea Ferrero and Andrea Raffo have a new paper pointing out that at the zero lower bound, where monetary policy cannot offset the deflationary impact of structural reforms that would otherwise be desirable (lowering mark-ups in product and labour markets), such reforms can be contractionary (by generating expectations of deflation and raising real interest rates).

All of which seems obvious once you think about it, but it needed someone to point it out. And this is a problem for a continent whose leaders refuse to take the demand side of the economy seriously, and are hoping that “structural reforms” will obviate the need for them to rethink their macroeconomic strategy.

Another chance for Paul Krugman to cite St Agustin!

(H/T Eurointelligence, which also links to a report on how the Greek government is saying that there will be no more austerity next year, even under a third bailout. This crisis is not yet over.)



‘Austerity’ should not be confused with pragmatism

Patrick Honohan has an op-ed in today’s Irish Times here.

Conference at UL: Reform in the Aftermath of the Crisis

Reform in the Aftermath of the Crisis:

Exploring Agenda for Health, Political and Financial Reform

Admission is free, but spaces are limited. We hope to see you there on the day.  If you can make it please RSVP to Niamh.OSullivan@ul.ie

Date: 19 September 2013

Venue:      Pavilion, University of Limerick

Time:        0930 – 16h30

09h30

10h00

Registration & Coffee

Welcome by Professor Paul McCutcheon

Vice President Academic and Registrar , University of Limerick

10h15

Seminar 1: Political and Health Care Reform

Chair: Dr. Maura Adshead, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick

Dr. Colin Doherty, Consultant Neurologist

St. James’s Hospital and Trinity College Dublin

11h00

11h45

Professor David Farrell, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin

Audience Contribution and Discussion led by Dr. Chris McInerney, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick

12h45

Complimentary lunch Served at the Pavilion

14h00

14h00

14h45

15h30

Seminar 2: Economic and Financial Reform

Chair: Professor Helena Lenihan, Department of Economics, Kemmy Business School , University of Limerick

Professor Stephan Gerlach

Deputy Governor, The Central Bank of Ireland

Fiona Muldoon

Head of Banking and Insurance Regulation, The Central Bank of Ireland

Audience Contribution and Discussion led by Ross Maguire, co-founder of New Beginnings ‘A movement of mortgage holders’

16h30

Close and Thanks