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Walsh, Brendan M.
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Walsh, Brendan M.
Official Name
Walsh, Brendan M.
Research Output
Now showing 1 - 10 of 11
- PublicationThe Irish pound and the ERM : lessons from the September crisis and its aftermathThis paper examines the effects of the EMS crisis of September 1992 on the Irish pound. A review of the Irish experience in the exchange rate mechanism is presented, including an assessment of the extend to which the hard-currency peg pursued after the devaluation of 1986 could be said to have gained credibility for the Irish pound. The behaviour of the Irish interest rates in the aftermath of of sterling's departure form the ERM and the reasons for the protracted attempt to avert a devaluation of the Irish pound are studied. Some implications for progress towards a monetary union in Europe are drawn.
225 - PublicationThe role of tax policy in Ireland's economic renaissanceThis paper analyzes the role of tax policy in the transformation of the Irish economy from the 1980s to the 1990s. Details are provided of the marked underperformance of the economy in the 1980s, evidenced by rising unemployment, falling employment, stagnant living standards, and a looming fiscal crisis. The correction of the fiscal imbalances in the late 1980s was followed by a remarkable transformation of the economy. In the 1990s, the Irish economy led Europe in terms of employment creation, unemployment reduction, and improved living standards. The increasing ratio of debt to gross domestic product was reversed, and Ireland easily qualified to adopt the European common currency in 1999.
2644 - PublicationEconomic stabilisation, recovery and growth : Ireland 1979-96This article reviews the transformation of the Irish economy since the early 1980s. Credit for the initial stabilisation of the economy is given to the shock therapy of cutting expenditure, favourable exchange rate and other external developments. Possible explanations of the higer rate of growth of output now being achieved include a high level of investment in human capital, improved quality of physical capital formation, and a falling burden of taxation. The contribution of the return to centralised wage bargaining and the role of European Union (EU) assistance are also discussed. The prospects for further economic growth over the medium term are considered to be good.
361 - PublicationCatching up with the leaders : the Irish hareFor many decades Ireland's output per capita ranked about twenty-fourth among the world's industrial nations. Suddenly, in the mid-1990's Ireland started to move up, from twenty-second in 1993 to eighteenth in 1997 and an amazing ninth in 1999. The many facets of Irish success over these years, from a disproportionate representation in popular music to the largest current account surplus in the industrial world, caught the public imagination at home and abroad. This article examines the startling turnaround in Irish economic performance that began in the mid 1980's. Ireland is not alone in having experienced severe macroeconomic imbalances in the past quarter century, but their amplitude has been greater than in almost any other OECD country. The early 1980's saw the worst extremes. In 1981 inflation was 21 percent, the current account deficit was about 15 percent of GNP. and public sector borrowing was running at an even higher rate. The attempt to rein in the twin deficits caused taxation to jump by 10 percentage points of GNP in seven years, while overt unemployment soared to 16 percent of the labor force in 1986 and net emigration approached 1 percent of the population.
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