Ireland – the quantity-adjusting recovery

There was an interesting – Letter to the New York Times – last week (August 3, 2015) from an Irish academic (Stephen Kinsella) in response to an Op Ed by the German economist Hans-Werner Sinn (July 24, 2015) – Why Greece Should Leave the Eurozone. I found it interesting because for the last few weeks, since the latest – Irish national accounts data (July 30 2015) showed Ireland to be the fastest growing Eurozone nation I have been investigating what has been going on. The Op Ed by Sinn did not appear to accord with the data that I was examining. The subsequent ‘Letter’ confirmed that. The bottom line is that Ireland is not an example of a “supply-side” internal devaluation inspired recovery. In fact, it is an example of a straightforward “Keynesian” quantity adjustment aided by Ireland’s very open economy and the fact that is has been favourably disposed to growth elsewhere supported by on-going fiscal deficits.

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