Here are the lecture notes in 2*2 format, a recording of the lecture is below.
Irving Fisher’s 1933 article on Debt, Deflation, and Depression is here, Hyman Minsky’s big book on financial panics and the theory of debt-deflation is here, you can learn more about him here. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s 1983 paper on debt-deflation [...]
This week in 2 classes (EC4004 and EC4333), I talked about Lorenz curves, Gini distributions, and income inequality.
The recent OECD report shows the inequality in who’s contributing to income tax receipts.
The chart shows Ireland is a very unequal country when it comes to paying tax– the rich pay most.
(HT Ronan for the update)
Cross posted at the TASC-blog.
It is almost never correct to sacrifice a present benefit for a doubtful advantage in the future. Ireland’s political classes understand this truism at the genetic level. In a world where less and less seems predictable, Ireland faces multiple uncertainties: we cannot afford to splurge on one by neglecting the other.
The [...]
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Assuming an EMU, what are the economic effects of one? We saw last week that the EU was almost certainly not and OCA, yet the EU exists as a functioning currency area. What are the likely effects of this on growth amongst member states? We developed the canonical model used to describe economic [...]
Also tagged Business, Economic growth, economy, EU, European Union, Member State of the European Union, MultilateralThe very smart Dr Aidan Kane came and gave a lecture to the very smart Economics for Business class, and here are his slides. Check out the last 3 slides, they tell us in very short order just where the government’s fiscal problems came from, and how to solve the crisis. Here’s a hint: it’s [...]
Also tagged Business class, Canada, Directories, Economic, Kane, Social Sciences, United StatesGerard thinks there will be another budget in early-to-mid 2009 to cope with the worsening economic downturn. I’ve got to agree with him, and I’ve got to say he’s mostly right. Essentially the pension provisions for public sector workers are very high and represent a significant premium over those benefits enjoyed by workers in the [...]
Also tagged Employment, Pension, Personal Finance, Private sector, Public Sector, RetirementLisbon 2008: What was it, was did it mean, and why did it fail?
This lecture traces the history of the EU’s development through its treaty structure from the Treaty of Rome to the Treaty of Nice, and spends a large portion of the lecture focusing on the Treaty of Lisbon, which the Irish electorate [...]
Here’s an interview I did this morning on Live 95FM with Ed Myers, following on from a previous post about the move of the budget.
My main point was the government needs to strike the correct balance of decreased public spending, increased taxes, wage moderation, and borrowing. Ireland has a pretty low national debt, so borrowing [...]
A quadrillion is a thousand trillion, and the only place you’re ever going see a cheque this large is Zimbabwe. It’s a cautionary note that even though the Irish economy is in trouble right now, we’re nowhere near the economic turmoil of the 1980’s in Ireland yet, let alone Zimbabwe. We’ll discuss hyperinflation in EC4004 [...]
Also tagged Africa, Guides and Directories, Ireland, Names of large numbers, Republic of Ireland, Society and Culture, ZimbabweImage via Wikipedia
The government will move the Budget announcement to October 14 this year, in a sharp break with tradition.
Why did they do it?
My first thoughts on the decision were to forestall any more bad news coming from Q4 this year. The Q3 figures are scary enough. The second thought was the move timed [...]