"Fiscal policies, devaluations and exchange rate regimes": a comment

Abstract

A characteristic of many small countries is their propensity to compare domestic performance with that of the outside world. The Irish are much given to this practice. Different comparators are taken depending on the nature of the problem and the mood and ideological preference of the writer. In discussions of Ireland's economic performance, a wide variety of countries has been chosen as critical benchmarks. Examples to emulate have included, as fashion dictates, Denmark (agriculture; co-operatives; indigenous industry), Sweden (full employment policies; incomes policies), Finland (industrial growth on the periphery), France (economic planning), Holland (an exemplar on everything), Germany (labour training), Austria (social consensus) and even the USA (success in generating jobs). The UK is a constant standard of comparison, sometimes challenging (privatisation, post-Thatcher industrial relations) and sometimes reassuring and exculpatory (low growth relative to EC).