THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF EUROPEAN UNION A Symposium on Some Policy Aspects. THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, DUBLIN, 1986

Scott, Dermot and Bradley, John and Fitzgerald, John D. and Ross, Miceal (1986) THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF EUROPEAN UNION A Symposium on Some Policy Aspects. THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, DUBLIN, 1986. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

The papers published here, together with the Matthews paper, address some of the economic questions on which discussion of further European integration should be based. Will European prosperity bring Irish prosperity? Does a free market threaten traditional Irish industry, or aid new Irish industry, or both? How can a small peripheral economy survive and prosper in a monetary union? How much autonomy does an Irish government at present enjoy in monetary and fiscal policy? Are Ireland’s interests close to the Community average? Questions such as these are asked by politicians, who expect economists to answer them; economists tend to react by asking further questions, by demanding quantitative data on which to base their assessments. It is one of the positive points of these papers that the economists have been willing to be drawn out on some of these current issues of political economy, even if others remain to be tackled. I believe that the burden of these papers does not suggest any reason for doubting that in the long term it is in Ireland’s interest that the Community should be economically and politically strong, and that Ireland should be a full partner in that Community.

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