Studies on the Adaptation of Irish Industry. ESRI Memorandum Series No. 133 1979

Geary, R.C. and Dempsey, M. (1979) Studies on the Adaptation of Irish Industry. ESRI Memorandum Series No. 133 1979. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

Studies on the Adaptation of Irish Industry, as the title implies, is a collection of articles around the theme of industrial adaptation. Considerations of size of the volume limit the range of problems and issues which can be tackled. It may be said that we should have dealt with problems facing the individual company or industry as the Irish economy moved from protection to free trade; or we should have developed the issue of the role of finance in adaptation or of the importance of factor markets in encouraging a particular type of industry. We decided however to confine the paper to discussion of some aspects of adaptation which we considered import and relevant, and for which statistics were available. The changing international trade environment and its relationship to industrial adaptation is examined, particularly the dependence of the necessary economic expansion on large increases in exports and imported materials. The expansion of import substitution is considered a valid policy in view of the under-utilisation of labour in Ireland. A search is made for commodities production of which might be increased, bearing in mind the assumption that such production will tend to increase experts and decrease competitive imports. There should be expansion in processed meat as compared with live animal experts; cheese, vegetables, fish exported in greater quantities; motor vehicle and machinery parts should be developed. The methodology used in the paper could be applied in the search for products in large and increasing world demand.

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