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Ireland in the global financial crisis. Niamh Hardiman UCD School of Politics and International Relations Niamh.Hardiman@ucd.ie. Outline . What ‘variety of liberalism’? Anglo-American LME… … with an activist state Macroeconomic Social partnership Industrial policy
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Ireland in the global financial crisis Niamh Hardiman UCD School of Politics and International Relations Niamh.Hardiman@ucd.ie
Outline • What ‘variety of liberalism’? • Anglo-American LME… • … with an activist state • Macroeconomic • Social partnership • Industrial policy • Nature of the crisis in Ireland • Banking vs fiscal • Origins of crisis • Political and policy context • Current experiences • An entirely ‘orthodox’ response – why? • Sustainable?
Dramatic rise and fall Employment-to-population ratio Eurostat, May 2011
Debt and deficit shock Eurostat, April 2011
Background • Poor banking regulation • Overheating in EMU • House price inflation • Underlying fiscal weaknesses • Thinner tax base • Strong spending commitments
The House Price Boom and Bust Karl Whelan
Composition of taxation TASC 2010, p.11
Lower reliance on income taxation OECD, Taxing Wages 2007-8 (2009), p.51
Pay-tax trade-offs Source: OECD Taxing Wages 2007/8 (2009)
Explaining crisis • Three bank reports tell us: • ‘Plain vanilla’ speculation • Poor regulation • ‘Herd mentality’ • But • What is this ‘group-think’? • Why such poor accountability? • Why no serious counter-weight? • Actors, institutions, ideas • Political coalitions after 2000: Fianna Fail and banks, property developers, builders • Poor governance, public and private • ‘Orthodox’ economic framework
Fixing the mess: Restructuring the financial sector • Aversion to nationalization • NAMA • Slow recapitalization • New regulatory appointments • Central Bank Governor, Financial Regulator • But old regime in the banks
Big questions • Economic sustainability • Political sustainability
Debt Ratios (EC and IMF Projections) GNP GDP Karl Whelan
EU, European Economy: the Economic Adjustment Programme for Ireland. Spring 2011. p.12
Unit labour costs – painful deflation Harmonized competitiveness indicators based on unit labour costs, whole economy. ECB, June 2011
Collapse of ‘ruling’ Fianna Fáil party Red C polls