Book description
We're in the midst of a global economic crisis and a domestic
economic disaster.
But enough of the hand-wringing. Where did this all come from, where
are we now and, most importantly, what's going to happen next?
In a compelling and jargon-free argument, economist Marc Coleman
makes sense of this mess we're in with clear, accessible analysis of
Ireland's economic situation and where it might be heading.
Addressing first the global dimension - how early warnings were
ignored, why American monetary policy failed the world and why an
unfinished revolution in globalisation left us defenceless - Coleman
makes a case for a new kind of capitalism.
The unravelling threads that created the Irish financial crisis are
also untangled. The death of competitiveness, the mismanagement of tax
revenues, issues of demographics, bad urban planning, stupid banks and
an unsuccessful regulator are all examined and, combined with
dysfunctional politics, are shown to be the root causes of the
predicament we now find ourselves in.
But all is not lost.
With a positive, can-do approach to the economic crisis, Coleman
creates a fix-it manual for the future, explaining how Ireland can
prosper again by adopting a smart economy, reforming social
partnership and curing a warped fiscal cycle with budgetary and
electoral reform.
Ireland's economic nightmare will end. It is a dream not destroyed,
merely delayed.
Marc Coleman is Newstalk Radio's Economic Editor and TV3 News'
Economics Commentator. He also writes a column for Ireland's bestselling
Sunday newspaper, the
Sunday Independent
. He was previously the economics editor for the
Irish Times
and prior to that worked for seven years as a European Central Bank
economist.
