Ireland has often held up to be a model country. Firstly, in the boom years, Ireland was a model of low taxes and deregulation. It’s rapid economic growth saw praise from both sides of the Atlantic. But, after the crash, Ireland has experienced a deep fall in GDP and the model of growth proved highly …
Readers Question: Is there an inbuilt deflationary bias in the Eurozone? Note: I originally wrote this post in 2010. Unfortunately, every year there is a reason to update the post and suggest the deflationary bias in the Eurozone keeps getting stronger. Deflationary bias means that there is a tendency for economic policy to promote lower …
Question from the Economist. – It is easy to understand the case that European austerity is self-defeating. But it is also easy to see that one cannot run large deficits year after year without limit and that some countries (Greece, Portugal) have exhausted the willingness of private investors to finance them. Is Austerity self-defeating? Austerity …
The German economy has been one of the world’s strongest economies in the post-war period. There are many aspects of the German economy which deserve praise and emulation – not least strong productivity growth, a booming export sector and prolonged low inflationary growth. In the post-war period Germany has played an important role in promoting …
The ECB inflation target is 2% – ‘it aims to maintain inflation rates below, but close to, 2% over the medium term. ‘ However, some economists argue that in the current situation, the ECB should have a higher inflation target of 3-4%. The main reason for having a higher inflation rate would be to prioritise …
Stats on EU Bond Yields and Debt. See also: Primary budget Deficits of EU EU Bond yields 2010 – 2012 ECB Long term Interest rates EU Bond Yields 2010 – 2014 2010-2012 – Why did Bond yields on Eurozone debt rise, but yields on UK debt fall? One significant cause is that the ECB won’t …
A look behind the causes and consequences of the economic crisis, and why it has been difficult to solve. Background to Economic Crisis The 1990s and early 2000s was a period of economic prosperity – Low inflation and high economic growth gave an impression of economic stability, but in other areas of the economy there …
A look at the pros and cons of Scottish independence from an economic perspective. It is said you can’t put a price on freedom and cultural identity. But, when it comes to independence, economics seems to be one of the biggest factors to sway voters in Scotland. When asked in a poll, only 21% favour …