We present here reports on studies and comment/analysis on major issues of interest to both an Irish and international audience.
The most recent reports are in Reports Section at the lower end of the Homepage. Have a look at the left-side column also for items of interest.
Economy
Global Employment Outlook Survey: Optimism in Germany to continue, Hiring set to soften in Asia Pacific - Irish outlook weaker
Irish Venture Capital plunged to €4.2 million in Q1 2007; European Venture Capital flattened
Irish General Election 2007: Tax cuts are the easy part as public sector reform is outsourced to the OECD and the Irish public
Irish General Election 2007: Soundbite Battle Score - Politicians 100; Journalists 0: Taxes, Jobs and Pensions
Comment: The Irish Economy and the Inconvenient Truth
ECB rate may rise to 4% in 2007 as sustained period of global economic growth forecast to beat 40-year record
Irish Economy 2006 and Future of the Celtic Tiger-Putting a brass knocker on a barn door!
AIB Irish Housing Report: "They think it’s all over ... but it’s not" - Easing stamp duty burden at this stage would probably go straight into higher prices
Foreign-owned firms increased share of Irish exports to 92% in 2006; Irish firms facing increasing competition in key UK market
Foreign-owned sector accounted for 87.6% of Irish exports in 2004; 71.6% of total exports came from two sectors - Chemicals/Pharmaceuticals and ICT/Machinery
Globalisation and the Irish Economy: Ireland extremely vulnerable to a global slowdown in either the high-tech or financial services sectors
Irish Economy March 2006: Two reports offer contrasts in caution and cheer: NCB Stockbrokers' report called 2020 Vision - says the population of the Republic will grow by 30% to over 5.3 million by 2020
Economics Symposium Jackson Hole 2006: Central bankers to discuss how many jobs can be sacrificed to tame inflation as fears of stagflation in the Eurozone grow
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Comment: The free lunch has yet to be invented - the tipping point for the Irish economy
US superearners take lion's share of productivity gains
Comment: Ireland too has its Insiders Syndrome like France
AIB report on Irish housing market says supply of serviced land and efficiency of planning process should be improved
IIB Bank/ESRI say SSIAs will boost Irish house prices by 10%; Up to €15 billion SSIA related investment including borrowing to go to Irish and foreign property
GREEN IRELAND - A 20 year vision for Ireland’s Industrial & Rural Development Policy - - Brody Sweeney, Founder O'Brien's Irish Sandwich Bars
Dublin house prices heading for 100 times rent earned: Davy Stockbrokers
OECD Economic Survey of Ireland 2006: Too many sectors where producers are shielded from competition
Martin says Ireland will be leading global knowledge economy in 7 years
Ireland's Celtic Tiger 2005: Built to last or on a foundation of quicksand?
Irish Economy: Medium-Term Review: 2005-2012 - ESRI says aura of invincibility coupled with considerable risks
Rural Development 2025 Report: 10,000 full-time Irish farmers down from 40,000 today; Most Irish-based Foreign Manufacturing Enterprises will be lost to Low-Cost Economies by 2025
Irish employment increased by 87,000 or 4.7% in 2005
AIB report says almost 160,000 non-nationals in employment in Ireland - 8% of workforce; Magnitude of inflows may slow; Many buying property
European Commission report says free movement of workers since the 2004 enlargement had a positive impact ; 2.8% of the Irish workforce non-EU nationals
China, India seen as greatest threat to UK economic success; Ireland's competitiveness forecast to improve by 2010
China could become world’s largest exporter by 2010
R&D Scorecard Global Top 1,000 Companies: US firms dominate; 86% of total R&D comes from just 6 countries out of 36
Developing Countries emerge as attractive locations for R&D by Transnational Corporations
Trichet says a fall in labour productivity in euro-zone may be responsible for decline in the trend potential output growth rate
"It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do I.T." - Why US multinationals win the productivity race - The US productivity miracle of the past 10 years is not explained by the US business environment being better; rather, US companies are simply better at using computers and other technology to drive productivity higher.
OECD says on average fewer than 60% of people aged between 50 - 64 have a job, compared with 75% of people in the 25-49 age group
Foreign Direct Investment into Ireland fell sharply in 2004; Increased FDI flows to Developing Countries
World Bank Doing Business 2007 Report: Business becomes easier worldwide; Ireland ranked 10th, UK gets 6th rank
Josef Stalin and the crazy Irish development land system
International Housing Affordability Survey: UK and Irish housing extremely highly priced and of poor standard
A Maverick amidst the Thundering Herd: A CEO who says that he is paid too much
Americans sick of Greed Incorporated; Gillette's James M. Kilts wins 2005 Gordon Gekko Prize for scooping CEO Piñata worth $188 million
Executive Pay and Inequality in the Winner-take-all Society
State of Chassis: Artificial restriction on land supply puts Ireland and UK at bottom of property league in Developed World; Irish urbanisation at 4% is among Europe's lowest
Driving change: How policymakers are using road charging to tackle congestion
Tax
Irish Tax Incentives Review: No tax paid on €25m of income from pension fund; In 2002 top 26 Writers & Artists claimants had total income of €39m with an estimated tax forgone of €12.93m
Taxation in the EU25 1995-2004; Tax revenue ranged from 29% of GDP in Lithuania and Latvia to 51% in Sweden; Ireland increased to 33.7% in 2004
Company taxation: European Commission proposes "Home State Taxation" for SMEs
OECD: Tax as percentage of GDP: Ireland's rate up on 1975 level
US Multinationals Overseas Profits: Ireland's patent income tax-exemption may fund over 5% of Irish Government annual spending in 2006
Globalisation increases complexity of Transfer Pricing, according to new Ernst & Young survey
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European Union
European Leaders vie for Lousis XVI Prize; Democracy roadshow doomed to fail
Ireland's net receipts from EU Budget rose €34m in 2004 to €1.6 billion
Economic migration in the EU: the labour markets’ situation and demographic trends
GDP per capita in EU Member States ranged from 43% to 227% of the EU25 average in 2004; Ireland at 40% above EU average
European Innovation Scoreboard : Switzerland, Finland, Sweden in lead; Ireland gets 11th rank; Irish business R&D shows both an absolute and relative decline over time
Independent expert group urges Europe’s leaders to take radical action on research and innovation “before it is too late”
Swedish Pensions System could be promising model for countries facing reform crunch says World Bank
EU25 population up by 0.5% in 2004; Almost one third of births outside marriage
Social protection expenditure in the EU25 accounted for 27.7% of GDP; Ireland at bottom but recorded largest per capita increase
EU Common Agricultural Policy
Global Warming/Climate Change
UK Government produces the world’s first big report on the Economics of Climate Change
Greenland ice loss doubles in past decade raising sea level faster
NASA says 2005 was warmest year on record
Arctic ice cap may melt by Summer 2070
Global warming may make Ireland colder
650,000 year old ice signals link between greenhouse gases and climate change
Heatwave study raises new fears on impact of global warming
Climate model predicts dramatic changes for US over next 100 years; NASA says warmer world may not be a wetter one
Avian/Bird Flu
Scientists in Europe and US have discovered why H5N1 Avian Flu virus strain hasn't spread easily among people
Discovery of variations of bird-flu virus challenging reliance on a single human vaccine
EU urges action in response to avian/bird flu threat
Avian flu study: Infection milder but more widespread than WHO's estimates
Global bank giant HSBC is prepared for 50% employee absence during flu pandemic
Asian bird flu similar to 1918 Spanish flu pandemic virus
Trade/Doha Round
European Commission responds to US Doha Trade Round claims
Mandelson: Europe still ambitious for the Doha Round, but it is time for others to move
OECD urges freer trade combined with structural adjustment to reap benefits from globalisation
Doha Trade Round: Bono, Geldof and business lobby group IBEC go AWOL as Irish Government hides in France's shadow
Tariff reform could deliver annual global gains of $300 billion by 2015, says World Bank study
Success of Doha Round trade talks dependent on EU/US agreement on farm product import tariff cuts
Developing Countries
World Bank focus on trade since 1987 'too narrow' : Impact on employment and poverty was less than expected
2006 World Development Indicators: World Bank data show growth rates converging among Developing Regions
OECD says Development Aid flows top $100 billion in 2005
Worlds Apart: Why so many countries stood still or went backwards since 1980?
EU provides 55% of the world's development assistance
World Bank - - Global Economic Prospects 2006: Migration can deliver welfare gains, reduce poverty; Remittances reach $232 billion
International migration reduces poverty in Developing Countries, but results in massive Brain Drain for some, says World Bank study
China responsible for 75% of poverty reduction in the Developing World since 1980
G8 July 2005
G8 Leaders agree $50 billion Africa Aid
G8, the challenge of global poverty and contradictions of anti-globalisation
70% of tariffs paid by Developing Countries are to other ones
High oil prices will eclipse African aid benefits
UN sees gains on poverty worldwide, but huge gaps remain
Developing countries’ goods trade share surges to 50-year peak
OECD: Aid to Developing Countries rises to highest ever level
US accounts for 1/3 of annual remittances to Developing Countries of $100bn
World Bank says Developing Countries' aid $20bn short
World Bank issues Africa Development Indicators 2005 and IMF cautions on impact of aid
Report: Pro-Poor Growth in the 1990s: Lessons and Insights from 14 Countries
Gates Foundation announces 43 research projects to discover new ways to fight disease in poorest countries
Miscellaneous
Study focuses on pivotal event in Human Evolution: Chimpanzee and human ancestors may have interbred
Warren Buffett - Finfacts Businessperson of the Year 2006
Comment: Deaths of Milton Friedman & Ireland's Progressive Democrats: PDs become One Issue Party as Pre-1997 Radicalism is Abandoned
European Parliament: An irrelevant talking-shop with an annual budget of €1.2 billion?
UK study says companies "sweating" office assets by packing more people into cubicleland
More than half the world’s population will live in a city by 2007; More than 200,000 people are homeless or living in temporary shelter in Paris
Comment: All the King's Men - The Ireland that made Charles Haughey
Comment: The Driverless Car Syndrome - The Celtic Tiger roars on for now but significant reform is not on agenda
Global corruption rampant; Corporate entertainment the new bribery in Developed World
Echoes of Haughey's GUBU in McDowell's Ireland
Comment: EU Sugar Compensation Fund - Greencore, beet farmers and taxi drivers
Comment: Aer Lingus and the ugly face of Irish trade unionism
Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy : The Implosion of an Irish American Demagogue
How not to protect the Brand: Lessons for the Media and the Catholic Church
Comment: Globalization has its downsides as well as its benefits but in the long run, we're all dead!
Comment: Hungarian PM and politicians’ economy with the truth
Clash of Civilizations: Europe caught in new war of religion
Philosopher-economist Adam Smith: A patron for 21st century trade unionism?
Media and Anti-War Movement: Iraq invites rage - Darfur indifference
The penny belatedly drops for Computer Illiterate Irish Ministers, Senior Bureaucrats and Advisers
Whitaker's Ireland and the planned destruction of two of Dublin's premier hotels
All the King's Men: The Ireland that Made Charles Haughey
Hypocrisy and the Irish Language: EU to hire 30 Irish translators at cost of €3.5 million
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