New numbers from the boffins in the CSO again make a mockery of how we measure economic activity. Sure, on the face of it, last year’s 5.2% GDP growth sounds more reasonable than the make-believe 26.3% recorded in 2015. Remember that prompted Nobel prize-winner Paul Krugman to call out Ireland’s ‘Leprechaun economics’?
Over the years, many economists in Ireland have argued that GNP – which strips out the repatriated earnings of multinationals – is a better measure of our economic progress. According to this measure, growth halved from 18.7% in 2015 to a still-stellar 9% in 2016.
But, even the most sunny-sided economists would struggle to claim with a straight face that this is a good indicator of Ireland’s true rate of economic growth.
*** This article was first published on thejournal.ie on 10 March, 2017 ***
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