Irish Voters are unlikely to endorse a European Austerity Treaty in 2012

30/01/2012 By
Nat

Irish democracy may become Europe’s focus in 2012, if the Merkel-Sarkozy ‘stability and growth union’ proposals are put to a vote of the Irish people. Any change to the Constitution of Ireland requires a referendum. The Irish Attorney General will examine the final wording of the fiscal compact in March before advising whether these proposals [...]

Filed Under: Capitalism, Columns, Democracy, Economic Policy, European Union Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

From Conspicuous Consumption to Collective Consumption

01/12/2011 By
Nat

The heart of the sustainability debate is not philosophical but scientific. There is a massive body of evidence about climate change, pollution, resource depletion and other negative effects that stem directly and indirectly from human activity – more specifically, from much of conventional economic activity. (See, for example, New Scientist’s basic introduction). It is impossible [...]

Filed Under: Columns, Environmental Policy, Sustainability Debate Tagged With: , , ,

Equality and Justice Require Full Employment

27/05/2011 By
Nat

One of the enduring failures of developed economies is the persistence of high levels of unemployment, and other involuntary non-participation in the labour force, even at the best of times. There are strong reasons, in terms of justice and equality, for the introduction of job guarantee schemes. As well as being an ethical imperative, it [...]

Filed Under: Columns, Economic Policy, Employment and Labour, Social Policy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Ireland’s Austerity Woes

07/02/2011 By
O'Connor

From the very beginning of the crisis, the Irish Government’s response has failed to protect vulnerable people and has damaged the long-term prospects of the economy. To put the scale of Ireland’s austerity measures into context, about €30 billion worth of austerity measures (cuts to public spending and tax increases) have occurred since the crisis [...]

Filed Under: Austerity Debate, Economic Policy, Employment and Labour Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,