After 16 years of unbroken Fianna Fáil rule, the first four of the five general elections of the period 1948-1963 saw sitting governments unseated. Economic policy pivoted: protectionism was abandoned; foreign direct investment welcomed and an application for membership was made to the EEC....

The contribution of social partnership to Ireland’s economic boom remains the subject of controversy. This paper analyses at a theoretical level how a multi-period deal on wages and taxation of the type struck in the late 1980s could enhance competitiveness and facilitate an economy in...

Lemass rejected Whitaker’s recommendations that direct taxes be reduced and public investment shifted from social to productive areas. This was arguably done for political reasons and because Lemass believed that it might be possible to establish a social partnership deal of the type that...

Geographical diversification describes the degree to which a firm’s operations in a particular industry are dispersed across countries. This paper presents evidence on the geographical diversification within the EU of the roughly 290 largest manufacturing firms in Europe. We explore how...

Ireland is distinguished by the high degree of openness of its labour market and the importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the economy. We develop a neo-classical growth model to explore the consequence of these characteristics for the response of an economy to the kinds of shocks...

Book Review.