Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This is an authoritative and topical assessment of Ireland's impressive economic growth record which has seen it dubbed 'the Celtic tiger'. Leading scholars from Ireland and beyond discuss Ireland's spectacular performance in its economic, social and political contexts.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Barry (University College, Dublin) has edited a collection intended to explore and, where possible, explain Ireland's spectacular economic performance since 1987. In the ten years after 1987 Ireland's GNP grew by 70 percent (as compared to the US's 27 percent and the EU's 24 percent) and total jobs in the economy increased by almost 25 percent, as living standards rapidly approached those of European partners. For the first time in centuries Ireland experienced net immigration. After an opening chapter providing the basic facts of Ireland's growth experience since 1960 and the editor's theoretical/historical chapter, which provides a perspective stretching back to the Industrial Revolution, subsequent chapters examine the role of foreign direct investment; the effects of membership in the EU with its single market and structural funds; the consequences of the fundamental realignment in Irish macroeconomic policy from 1987; the role of education; and the implications of these experiences for wage formation, income inequality, and unemployment. Unlike many collections, this one is well integrated, perhaps due to the editor's useful theoretical perspective. Discussions are of high quality, and most are accessible to senior undergraduates looking for comparative studies. Strongly recommended for academic, research, and professional collections. D. E. Moggridge University of Toronto

Author notes provided by Syndetics

FRANK BARRY is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at University College Dublin. He holds an MA from the University of Essex and a Ph.D. from Queen's University in Canada. He has held visiting positions at the Universities of Stockholm, California and New South Wales, and served for a time as Trade and Industry advisor to the Indonesian Ministry of Finance with the Harvard Institute for International Development. His publications are in the fields of macroeconomics and international trade.