Central Bank Q4 Bulletin

The latest quarterly bulletin from the Central Bank is available here.

Swift’s Economics

Organised by St Patrick’s Cathedral, there will be a symposium on the economics contribution of Jonathan Swift on October 16th: more details here.

The Annual Service in commemoration of Swift is on Sunday 17th October at 15.15, at which Dr. Don Thornhill (Chairman of the Competitiveness Council  etc) will give an address.

Regulating knowledge monopolies

I have a post on VoxEU (backed up by a paper) on the regulation of knowledge monopolies in general and the IPCC in particular.

Other countries have carefully prepared their positions for next week’s meeting in Busan. The Netherlands will call for substantial reform of the IPCC along the lines of the IAC and PBL reports. The United Kingdom will not call for Pachauri’s resignation as cordial relationships with India are deemed more important than effective leadership of the IPCC. I was met with a stunned silence when I recently asked two senior civil servants about the Busan position of Ireland, the Country That Leads The World in the Fight Against Climate Change.

We are used to thinking about market structures for goods and services, and there is a considerable body of theoretical and empirical work on how to keep market power in check. Policy advice is a service too, and relying on a single source of knowledge can have detrimental effects. The IPCC is one example, but there are examples closer to home too.

Meanwhile, Brian Lenihan wishes there was a single source of advice, and again. Cosy groupthink was one of the things that got the Irish economy into the current mess.

More on Ireland from the FT

There is a long analysis piece by David Gardner and John Murray Brown: you can read it here.

Wolfgang Munchau is gloomy about Ireland in this article.

Chelsea Billionaire Upset About Losing on INBS Subdebt

A regular source of debate on this website has been the question of who exactly holds the subdebt of insolvent Irish financial institutions. Widow and orphan funds? Credit unions?

How about Russian billionaires who own English football clubs?

Oct 1 (Reuters) – Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich may take legal action against the Irish government over its decision to make subordinated bondholders in Irish Nationwide (INBS) [IRNBS.UL] pay part of the bill for dealing with the building society’s huge property losses.

“We urge Irish authorities to re-consider their position on INBS subordinated bonds and come out with a detailed plan on what is going to happen to this institution,” a statement from Abramovich’s investment vehicle Millhouse said in a statement.

“In the meantime, we are fully prepared to vigorously defend our position using all possible legal means.”

I’m sure all right-thinking people will be wishing Roman well in his quest to take money from Irish taxpayers to free up extra funds for him to spend on Frank Lampard’s wages.