Kenneth Thomas analyzes the latest attempt to claim that Ireland is a success story — is this the third or the fourth time around? — and concludes that the modest fall in unemployment is all about emigration. Actually, we can reach the same conclusion by going straight to employment data (above).
This is not exactly a policy triumph.
The one sense in which Ireland has made some progress is that it has somewhat reassured bond investors that its population will continue to sullenly acquiesce in austerity; as a result, Irish 10-year rates, while still at a large premium, are now 60-80 basis points below those of Italy and Spain.
But the repeated invocation of Ireland as a role model has gotten to be a sick joke.
Dude.
It’s Friday.
Ireland Is The Success Story Of The Future, And Always Will Be (Paul Krugman, New York Times)