Lewis Publishing Company
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Business and Economy

Ireland's economy and growth is a subject of great interest both in Ireland and in many other parts of the world. Often dubbed 'The Celtic Tiger", the boom of the Irish economy is often seen as a marker for growth.

Irrational Exuberance Anthony Sweeney.
Irrational Exuberance is a book about Ireland, specifically the booming Irish economy. Like many economic cycles before, the majority of people do not believe that the current boom will end, but it will. This book explains what business-cycles are, and demonstrates how this theory applies to Ireland. It is not, however, a turgid economic treatise. I wrote it in a clean-cut style, that is hopefully lucid without over-simplifying important matters. The book traces how Ireland’s initially stable economic growth was distorted by the Irish government’s desire to join EMU. The book clearly demonstrates the visible signs of this excessive growth and how it is adversely impacting the economy. I also discuss many relevant issues such as house prices and how this asset bubble will burst, causing financial calamity for many. The book, however, is not a doom-and-gloom tome. In the last three chapters, I describe how businesses and consumers in Ireland can not only avoid the worst excesses of the ‘bust’ phase of the cycle, but how they can actually profit from it.

Inside the Celtic Tiger
Denis O'Hearn. One of the poorest states in the European Union during the 1980s, the Republic of Ireland's economy has grown rapidly in the 1990s, despite an overwhelming dependence on foreign capital. Echoing the "tiger" economies of East Asia, this has led many to dub Ireland the Celtic Tiger. In this critique by one of Ireland's leading economists, Denis O'Hearn sets Ireland's economic success in an international context and contrasts and compares its growth with the other "tiger" economies. He addresses some difficult but crucial questions, such as whether Ireland's apparent success is self-sustaining and what lessons can be learned from the downturn of the comparable East Asian economies. The study focuses on the importance for Ireland's rising economy of three US-led industrial sectors - computers, electrical engineering and pharmaceuticals. O'Hearn assesses who wins and who loses from such foreign capital-led growth - in the context of working conditions, poverty, consumption and inequality - and argues that the country's apparently significant economic achievements are dominated by growth in corporate profits and professional incomes, but that there is no evidence, as yet, of "trickle-down" to other sectors.

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