What should Ireland’s government do with a huge budget surplus?
The country’s economy has long been prone to manic mood swings
Bloated by the offshore profits of global corporations, the Irish economy has long been prone to manic mood swings. In 2016 Paul Krugman, an economist and commentator, coined the phrase “leprechaun economics” to describe a surge of 26% in Ireland’s GDP that was later found to have been caused largely by accounting changes at Apple, one of several American tech and pharma giants that book much of their global profits in Ireland.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Splurge or hoard?”
Europe October 7th 2023
- After a brutal campaign, Poland gets ready to vote
- Slovakia gives pro-Russian populist nationalism another win
- Ukraine prepares for winter again as Russia targets its power grid
- Spain’s Socialists are struggling to recover power
- What should Ireland’s government do with a huge budget surplus?
- Europe is stuck in a need-hate relationship with migrants
From the October 7th 2023 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Emmanuel Macron shows off the gloriously restored Notre Dame
Five years after it was gutted by fire, the cathedral is more beautiful than ever
Ursula von der Leyen has a new doctrine for handling the hard right
The boss of the European Commission embarks on a second term
Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets
She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics
The maths of Europe’s military black hole
It needs to spend to defend, but voters may balk
Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south
Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale
Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats
The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare