I thought I’d take time to share with those not already in the know a couple of the great Irish blogs that are out there. By coincidence, both are Blogger blogs, rather than WordPress ones, but we won’t hold that against them!
Firstly, Constantin Gurdgiev runs a great blog over at TrueEconomics. From his posts, you can see his role as the cruncher of numbers and highlighter of insanity, particularly when it comes to public policy/expenditure. Some recent highlights include:
- An analysis of the latest economic output figures, with particular emphasis on the construction sector and with some ‘scary graphs’ of his own
- Some figures on the contribution of agriculture in the economy
- And a thorough once-over on the public expenditure figures, showing the scale of correction needed and where it can come from
Secondly, Gerard O’Neill of Amarach runs Turbulence Ahead. His blog is more wide-ranging and focuses on concepts rather than figures as a general rule, but is equally interesting. For example:
- This great discussion of deferred gratification as a powerful economic force. I’m not sure whether those who believe that social institutions exhibit evolutionary principles have explicitly discussed this, but I’m sure there’s an interesting thesis – which probably ties in with the ‘Protestant work ethic’ school of explaining the Industrial Revolution – on how humans have unconsciously chosen over successive generations those political and religious systems that deliver greater economic return. Deferred gratification surely fits in there. But I digress…
- A discussion of where the growth will come from, in a world saddled by household, corporate and government debt.
Will ,
Hi Ronan –
Yes, they are both great Economists with fantastic blogs and both are personally likeable.
Indeed I agree with Ger on a wide range of issues BUT (here is the crucial caveat that you neglect to mention)………………
Both Constantin Gurdgiev and Ger O’ Neill are unapologetically at the extreme right of the economic & political spectrum.
Ireland’s very own neo-conservative one could say 🙂
I suspect that both have shrines in their bedrooms to Maggie Thatcher, Milton Friedman,Alan Greenspan,Ronald Regan,Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand and Augusto Pinochet
With the catastrophic global collapse of neo-liberal capitalism and the disastrous legacy of Milton Friedman,supply side polices are revealed for all to see.
Their viewpoint of the world is increasingly outmoded and has been utterly discredited and you would think these two chaps would at least re-evaluate their own positions and eat some humble pie but no, these two continue too cheerlead the worst aspects of neo-liberalism as if the past two years never happened.
Increasingly today, it is more left-leaning Economists like Dean Baker, Paul Krugman and the Nobel Laureate Joe Stieglitz that are gaining traction and whose credibility remains untarnished and whose Keynesian analysis is worth more careful consideration.
So Ronan, for the sake of balance do you have any say Marxist Economists that you can recommend 🙂 ?
In the meantime both Ger and Constatin’s blogs are an excellent contribution to the blogosphere in Ireland as they effortlessly weave a rich tapestry of ideas and both clearly are gifted & highly knowledgeable economists who can sift through the numbers and vast swathes of economic data and they are certainly worth subscribing to.
Ronan Lyons ,
Hi Will, thanks for the comment. I’ll try my best to balance it out in a future post!
One thing I would note is that there are plenty of people out there with the exact opposite opinion, who see what’s happening as anything but the collapse of neo-liberal capitalism and who would not view Joe Stiglitz as a man with untarnished credibility!