Structural Reforms Driving the Irish economy?

The Irish economy has expanded by beyond what many of us could have imagined back in the depths of the crash in 2009. In 2010, the European Commission prescribed a number of financial, product market and labour market reforms to downward adjust prices and wages and move the country onto a more sustainable growth path.

In April 2016, I spoke alongside three other Irish economists and senior civil servants about the Irish growth experience ( Prof. John McHale IFAC, John McCarthy Dept of Finance and John McKeon, Dept Social Protection) along with  colleagues from Spain, Portugal and Latvia.

My conclusion? The Irish recovery experience had very little to do with the few structural reforms undertaken and was mainly determined by a number of key external factors. However, the long overdue institutional reforms in the social welfare should have a positive impact on long term unemployment rates into the medium term.

Link to presentation is here. 2016 April 14th European Commission Seminar- Role of Structural Growth Policies