http://hdl.handle.net/2262/62036 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 02:56:31 GMT 2017-11-03T02:56:31Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58725 Policy lessons from Ireland?s latest Depression Whelan, Karl This paper provides a selective review of Ireland?s economic performance of the last 20 years, from the early days of the Celtic Tiger, through to the housing boom and the recent slump, and then attempts to draw a few lessons from the period. The paper argues, based on a range of observations, that a substantial slowdown was looming for Ireland by 2007, independent of what was going to happen in the global economy, and much of this evidence was ignored in the implementation of economic policy. The result was a range of policies based on an unwarranted over-optimism which left Ireland terribly exposed to the international downturn. Policy failures in the fiscal and banking sectors are discussed, as well as some common criticisms of policy that have less justification. Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58725 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58717 Did the Celtic Tiger decrease socio-economic differentials in perinatal mortality in Ireland? Layte, Richard; Clyne, Barbara Irish perinatal mortality rates have been falling steadily for a number of decades but evidence from the 1980s showed pronounced differentials in mortality rates across socio-economic groups. Between 1995 and 2006 Irish gross national product increased from 60 per cent of the EU average to 110 per cent. Real incomes increased across the income distribution during this period but income inequality between the top and bottom income deciles increased marginally. This paper examines whether socio-economic differentials in Irish perinatal mortality rates changed between the 1980s and 2000s. This task is complicated by demographic change in Ireland since the 1980s and its interaction with the birth registration process. Overall perinatal mortality rates have fallen from 14 per 1,000 in 1984 to 7 per 1,000 in 2006. Without adjusting for demographic change, differentials between professional and unskilled/unemployed groups have decreased from 1.99 to 1.79. Adjusted estimates suggest the real differential has decreased to 1.88. Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58717 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58705 Quantifying revenue windfalls from the Irish housing market Addison-Smyth, Diarmaid; McQuinn, Kieran The speed and severity of the decline in the Irish fiscal position in recent years raises a number of important issues regarding the assessment of fiscal policy within the EU. From a position of relative strength, with large surpluses and a low debt to GDP ratio, the Irish publicfinances have rapidly deteriorated, culminating in an Excessive Deficit Procedure being launched in early 2009. In hindsight, it is evident that tax revenues were on an unsustainable path in recent years due, in large part, to structural imbalances within the economy, mainly associated with the housing market. The excess growth in the latter culminated in large and transitory tax revenue windfalls, which ultimately proved unsustainable. These windfalls contributed to large general government and cyclically adjusted budget surpluses. This paper seeks to quantify the windfall gains associated with property taxes through modelling housing related tax receipts over the period 2002 to 2009. From this, estimates are derived as to the underlying or property adjusted fiscal position, which is found in various years, to have diverged greatly from actual outturns. Policy paper Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58705 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58704 The challenge of tax reform and expanding the tax base Poterba, Peter My topic today is the design of tax policy, and in particular the role of socalled ?tax expenditures? in income tax systems. It is a topic that is important not just in Ireland but in many other nations ? including the United States. I shall begin by talking about the revenue imperative, the challenge that policymakers around the world will face as they struggle to raise revenue to rebuild public treasuries in the aftermath of the recent economic crisis.I will illustrate the importance of thinking about economic considerations, such as taxpayer behavioural response, in designing tax policy. I will then share with you some of my experiences as a member of the Presidential TaxReform Panel that was commissioned in the United States in 2005. I will conclude by discussing the perennial challenge of broadening the tax base and by suggesting institutional structures which may help to avoid raising revenue from a narrow tax base with very high rates and high distortions. Geary Lecture ? 2009 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2262/58704 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z