Comparison of the Ireland economy and the New Zealand economy
Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 3 2 Performance criteria .................................................................................................................................. 3 2.1 Economic ............................................................................................................................................. 3 2.1.1 GDP per capita and Economic growth ......................................................................................... 3 2.1.2 Efficiency ...................................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Economic security ............................................................................................................................... 7 2.2.1 Income distribution ...................................................................................................................... 7 3 Lessons learned .......................................................................................................................................... 9 3.1 Monopolies and Low corporate tax rate ............................................................................................ 9 3.2 Welfare system ................................................................................................................................. 10 3.2.1 Health care ................................................................................................................................. 10 3.3 Education .......................................................................................................................................... 10 4 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................. 11 5 References ............................................................................................................................................... 12 6 Appendix .................................................................................................................................................. 13
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1 Introduction Ireland was one of the poorest countries in Western Europe with high emigration. In 1950s, the protectionist economy opened up and later Ireland joined the European community. After an economic crisis in the late 1980s Ireland stated to reform. Regulation and tax had been reduced dramatically to stimulate economic growth. In recent years, Ireland has transformed from an agricultural focused economy to a modern knowledge economy, focusing on high‐tech and services industries and low tax on investment. Over the last 10 years, Ireland has made remarkable economic progress. In that period, there have been two different phases to Ireland’s economic growth. From 1997 to 2000, high economic growth (GDP growth about 10% per annum) let many to call the country the Celtic Tiger. From 2000, Ireland’s national competitiveness declined due to global economic slowdown, particular in the high‐tech export sector. After the economic slowdown, Irish economic growth began to accelerate again in 2003. Compare to other developed countries, Irish economy performs very well. In 2006, the World Bank measured Ireland’s GNI per head was $44,830 – the 7th highest in the world. Also the Economist found Ireland has the best quality of life in the world (Economist, 2005). This paper will study the economic performance of Ireland over the last 10 years. Number of performance criteria that have been selected to evaluate the economic performance.
2 Performance criteria 2.1 Economic 2.1.1 GDP per capita and Economic growth Economic growth is the most widely use indicator of economic performance, increases in the volume of real output that an economy generates over time or in output per capita (Gregory & Stuart, 2004). Output is an important criterion for evaluating economic performance because material welfare can be measured approximated by the volume of goods and services per capita. From 1997 to 2000, economic growth in Ireland averaged 10%, and 5% from 2001 to 2007. And Ireland was ranked to have the 4th highest GDP per capita (PPP) in the world and the 3rd highest in the Europe by the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP, 2005). But measuring Ireland’s GDP per capita is a complicated issue, many economists believe GDP per capita is an inappropriate measure of national income for Ireland, as it neglects the fact that much of its income generated belongs to multinational corporations and eventually goes offshore (NCC, 2007). So they believe GNP per capita is a more appropriate mean of measuring the national income for Ireland. There may be a positive link between the growth of output and increases in quality of life. Ireland was rated the highest in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality of life index. And GDP per capita is also one
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of the highest in the world, which implicates a positive relationship between quality of life and GDP per capita. The quality of life index measured material wellbeing, health, political stability and security, family life, community life, climate and geography, job security, political freedom and gender equality. As the GDP per capita (material wellbeing) is a single variable that has already included in the quality of life index, which may be a better approach to represent a country’s overall performance. 2.1.2 Efficiency Efficiency is the effectiveness with a system utilizes its available resources at a particular time (static efficiency) or through time (dynamic efficiency) (Gregory & Stuart, 2004). 2.1.2.1 Static efficiency A situation is said to be static efficient if there is no way to arrange things to make at least one person better off without making anyone worse off. In this situation, resources are fully utilized to give their best potential. Figure 1 is static efficiency of Ireland from 97 to 05, which has budget constrains connect capital and labour. The budget constrains have given a set of input combinations that capable of producing a particular amount of outputs. The slopes of the budget constrains represent the marginal change in the quantity of one input factor L employed relative to the other input factor K such that total output Q remains constant. In this case of factor inputs which are perfect substitutes, the budget constrain is linear, and MRS LK is constant.
Static efficiency (Ireland)
Capital (K in $) 54320979968
Scale expansion path (SEP)
45308542976 37427765248
05
27954356224 24606263296 24131287040 23549861888 20971626496 17675143168
Q05 01 Q01 BC01
97 1554381
1630625 1700288
1758856 1797499 1846046 1883405
BC05 1978441 2050386 Labour (L)
Figure 1 Static efficiency (Ireland) (WDI, 2008)
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To prove this by math, imaging each additional worker raise output by MPL and firm hires ∆L additional workers, total output increase by ∆L * MPL. As more labours are being employed, there must be few capitals have employed. So MPL * ∆L + MPK *∆K = 0, rearrange get ‐∆K/∆L = MPL/MPK. We know MRS LK = ‐∆K/∆L, so MRS LK = MPL/MPK Over the last ten years in Ireland, the inputs of capital and labour had been rising continuously. The output scale expansion path (SEP) shows as the budget constraints shift to the right with increasing output. One of the reasons for the Ireland’s economy growth is due to an extensive growth (inputs accumulation). Investment has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. Many large technology companies have invested in Ireland, such as IBM, Google, Microsoft etc, who have Ireland an excellent investment location. The heavy investment stimulated Ireland economy and brought jobs: increased workforce. In figure 2 shows, labour increase is a factor of economic growth. NCC found Ireland growth of labour supply has played a key role in Ireland’s economic development over the past decade. Labour supply continues to grow strongly, driven both by natural increases in the Irish‐born population and growing levels of inward migration.
Figure 2 Labour Force (Employment & Unemployment), Ireland 000s, 2000‐2007 (NCC, 2007)
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2.1.2.2 Dynamic efficiency Dynamic efficiency involves the allocation of resources over time to maximize long‐run sustainable growth without an increase in capital and labour inputs (Rosser & Rosser, 2004). Dynamic efficiency is expressed by shifting the frontier outward from AB (point E) to CD (point F) (Figure 3); the distance of this movement indicates the efficiency change. Dynamic efficiency is calculated by the ratio of the growth of output to the growth of inputs (Gregory & Stuart, 2004). The Ireland’s economy growth attribute to intensive growth (by increasing efficiency). As a developed state, that economy has reached higher levels of economic development, growth of output is increasingly deprived from intensive economic growth. Mature economies no longer experience the increases in population and saving rates necessary for extensive economic growth (Gregory & Stuart, 2004). The economic growth was highly attributed to the technological increase. Ireland is the largest exporter of software related goods and services in the world. In fact, a lot of foreign software is filtered through the country to take advantage of Ireland’s non‐taxing of royalties from copyrighted goods. Moreover, Ireland has become a gateway of the whole Europe. Many large computer corporations have built massive infrastructures in Ireland, in order to connect the network between the Europe and the North America. This implicated that technology is one of the key factors caused the economic growth in Ireland. 2.1.2.3 Production possibilities frontier The concept of efficiency can be illustrated by the production possibilities frontier (PPF). The initial frotier: (K97 and L97) illustrates all feasible combinations of producer and consumer goods that a particular economic system is capable of producing at a particular time by using available resources at maximal efficiency (Gregory & Stuart, 2004). Output combinations beyond K97L97 are impossible; combination inside K97L97 is feasible but inefficient(Gregory & Stuart, 2004). Points E and F are both efficient. Same on the static efficient diagram (figure 1), all the points are efficient points where scale expansion path across each budget constrain, such as points 97, 01 and 05. The shift of the frontier from K97L97 to K07L07 from E to F largely attributed to technological progress. The distance of this movement indicates the change in efficiency.
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Production possibilities frontier of Ireland Capital (K)
K07
F K97 E
L97
L07
Labour (L)
Figure 3 Production possibilities frontier of Ireland (WDI, 2008)
2.2 Economic security 2.2.1 Income distribution The fairness of income distribution among households in an economic system is measured by Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient. 2.2.1.1 Lorenz curve Lorenz curve is a good way of showing income distribution in a country. The percentage of income is plotted on the Y axis and the percentage of population is plotted on the X axis. The curve shows a relationship between percentage of income and percentage of population. As the curve moves away from the diagonal 45‐degree line, income becomes more unequally distributed. The 45 degree line divides by the total area into half. If there is not income inequality, all the points should be on the 45 degree line. On the Lorenz curve, the poorest 10% of people in Ireland receive 2.9% of the total income; the poorest 20% of the population earn 7.2% of the total income; the richest 20% population owns 42% of the total income and the richest 10% owns 27.2% of the national income. Obviously Ireland income is not perfect distributed, but by how much? The Gini index can tell about it. Table 1 Inequality in income or expenditure (Ireland in 2000) (UNDP, 2005)
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Inequality in income or expenditure (Ireland in 2000) Share of income (%) Inequality measures Poorest 10% Poorest 20% Richest 20% Richest 10% Richest 10% to poorest 10% Richest 20% to poorest 20% 2.9 7.2 42 27.2 9.4 5.6
Gini index 34.3
Figure 4 Lorenz curve of Ireland (UNDP, 2005) Note: 58=100‐42, 72.8=100‐27.2 2.2.1.2 Gini index Gini index is used to measure of inequality of income distribution. It is defined as a ratio with values between 0 and 1. A high index indicates more unequal distribution; Vice versa, a low index indicates a less unequal distribution of income. Ireland Gini index is marginally more unequal than the EU 15 average. Ireland with most other European countries have experienced an increase in relative inequality since 2000 based on this measure (NCC, 2007). The relative at risk of poverty gap has widen, also indicating a disimprovement in the extent of overall inequality (Figure 5) (CSO, 2004).
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Figure 5 Levels of income inequality (Gini coefficient), 2000 and 2005 (NCC, 2007)
3 Lessons learned 3.1 Monopolies and Low corporate tax rate Ireland’s GDP per capita (PPP) in 2006 was $40,268, the 4th highest in the world and the 3rd highest in the Europe, whereas New Zealand’s GDP per capita (PPP) in 2006 was $25,517, ranked about 20th in the world. The data showed a big gap between Ireland’s GDP per capita and New Zealand’s GDP per capita. In the next paragraphs, different policies have been explained based on the two countries. New Zealand’s economy is too protected, whereas Ireland has opened its market to the global investors. Many of the NZ companies are still monopolies, like Telecom and Air NZ. Like Telecom, they charge high prices and provide technologies that are lagging years behind other developed countries. That is not all; the major reason for low NZ GDP per capita is the government did not really try hard to stimulate the economy. The government of Ireland has implemented several policies to stimulate that economy. Since 1997, the government of Ireland has favored low taxation policy to encourage foreign investment in Ireland. The current corporate tax rate is 12.5%, whereas in NZ it is 33%. Many global corporations 9
have invested in Ireland, including Microsoft, IBM and Google; they have found Ireland an excellent investment location. Now Ireland is the largest exporter of software related goods in the world. In fact, a lot of foreign software and music are filtered through the country to take advantage of Ireland’s non‐ taxing of royalties from copyright goods. Actually, Ireland’s corporate tax is one of the lowest in the Europe.
3.2 Welfare system Both Ireland and New Zealand are welfare state in which welfare expenditure is relatively large. Comparing the Western European countries with the United States, the EU countries have relatively stronger safety nets. Though Ireland and New Zealand are both welfare states, they still have differences in their policies. 3.2.1 Health care Everyone living in Ireland, including visitors who hold a European health insurance card, are entitled to free maintenance and treatment in public hospital (Citizensinformation.ie, 2008). Residents can also apply for a medical card, which entitles holders to free hospital care, GP visits, dental care, optical services, aural services, prescription drugs and medical appliances (Citizensinformation.ie, 2008). In contrast, in New Zealand people can only get treatment in public hospital for free, but the other services like GP visits, dental care, optical services, aural services, and prescription drugs are not free. In Ireland there is a maximum amount each individual can spend on prescription drugs every month; over that amount, all medications are free. In Ireland, for each medical card holder the maximum amount spent on prescription drugs is $90 (Citizensinformation.ie, 2008). In New Zealand, there is no maximum spending on drugs and the government only subsidizes the least expensive drugs in some categories. This can be very bad for some NZ patients, like cancer patients, spending about $2000 to $5000 each month for the drugs to keep them alive. Many patients are heavily in debt, struggling to survive financially. Many Western Europe countries have similar health care systems, slightly different from country to country, such as in Germany the health care is the least expensive of all EU countries. Germans pay only about $10 euro for half a year to the government, and they can get all the services for free, including GP visits, dental services, optical services, aural services, prescription drugs and hospital care. The EU countries have better welfare systems because they have high GDP and better policies toward welfare. (Barr, 2004) stated the welfare spending of NZ is 18.5% of the total GDP which is relatively low in welfare states, but in Scandinavian countries, such as Sweden, welfare spending is about 30% of the total output.
3.3 Education The educational system in Ireland is similar to other western countries. There are three levels of education in Ireland: primary, secondary and tertiary, and all levels are free of charge.
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The government of Ireland knew the education is important for the economy and the society as a whole, so it made the education free from primary to tertiary for all EU citizens. This gives everyone a chance to study in the university without worrying about the loan they have to pay back after graduation. There is a great freedom in choosing the type of school the child will attend. There is no such thing like school district; children can attend any school in any area, not just the schools in their own districts. This results in a greater variety of choices and gives the children an opportunity to study in the top schools.
4 Conclusions Ireland has one of the highest GDP per capita (PPP) in the world. From 1997 to 2000, its GDP growth was about 10% per annum. From 2000, Ireland’s national competitiveness declined due to global economic slowdown, but Irish economic growth began to accelerate again in 2003. Ireland has the highest quality of life which measured by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the index contains material wellbeing, health, political stability and security, family life, community life, climate and geography, job security, political freedom and gender equality. Ireland economy growth attributes to both intensive growth (by increasing efficiency), as well as extensive growth (by increasing inputs). Over the last 10 years, labour and capital both increased, as well as technology increase. This had led to Ireland’s production possibility frontier shift outwards. Ireland income distribution is skewed. The Gini index is marginally more unequal than the EU 15 average. It caused the government fear the risk of poverty gap has widened. Since 1997, the government of Ireland has favored low taxation policy to encourage foreign investment in Ireland. Many global corporations have invested in Ireland due to its low corporate tax rate of 12.5%. In contrast, corporate tax rate in NZ is more than double of that, it is 33%. This is a big discourage of global investment. New Zealand government should consider reduce the rate in order to attract more investors and also the regulatory issues of Telecom and Air NZ need to be solved. European countries have much better polices in health care. In Ireland, people whom have medical card are entitled to have free hospital care, GP visits, dental care, optical services, aural services, prescription drugs and medical appliances. Whereas in NZ, people can only have free hospital care, and the rest services are either charged or subsidized partially. In Ireland all levels of education are free of charge, same as some other EU countries. This has reduced students’ financial burden after graduation. In Ireland, students can choose any school to attend without the restriction in school district.
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5 References Barr, N. (2004). Economics of the welfare state: New York: Oxford University Press. Citizensinformation.ie. (2008). Medical cards. Retrieved August 13, 2008, from http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/health/entitlement‐to‐health‐ services/medical_card/ CSO. (2004). EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU‐SILC) [Electronic Version]. Retrieved August 9, 2008, from http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/labour_market/current/eusilc.pdf Economist. (2005). The Economist Intelligence Unit's quality‐of‐life index [Electronic Version]. Retrieved July 30, 2008, from http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf Gregory, P. R., & Stuart, R. C. (2004). Comparing economic systems in the twenty‐first century (7th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. NCC. (2007). Annual competitiveness report [Electronic Version]. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from http://www.forfas.ie/ncc/reports/ncc_annual_07/files/ncc071129_acr_report_2007.pdf Rosser, J. B., & Rosser, M. V. (2004). Comparative economics in a transforming world economy (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. UNDP. (2005). Ireland: The Human Development Index ‐ going beyond income. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_IRL.html WDI. (2008). The world bank database. Retrieved August 15, 2008
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6 Appendix Table 6 (WDI, 2008) YR1997
Series Name
YR1998
Ireland
NZ
Ireland
NZ
GDP per capita, PPP (current international $)
21432.542
17761.946
23273.541
17878.175
GDP per capita growth (annual %)
10.563
0.198
7.396
‐0.452
Inflation, consumer prices (annual %)
1.401
1.187
2.425
1.266
Gross domestic savings (% of GDP)
34.873
22.303
35.620
20.608
Income share held by fourth 20%
..
22.608
..
..
Gross capital formation (% of GDP)
21.749
21.878
23.768
20.316
Unemployment, total (% of total labor force)
10.300
6.600
7.800
7.400
GINI index
..
36.172
..
..
Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above)
..
..
..
..
Income share held by highest 20%
..
43.759
..
..
Income share held by lowest 20%
..
6.449
..
..
School enrollment, tertiary (% gross)
..
..
..
..
Income share held by second 20%
..
11.373
..
..
Income share held by third 20%
..
15.811
..
..
General government final consumption expenditure (% of GDP)
14.935
18.078
14.179
18.033
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
0.915
1.323
0.819
1.318
Health expenditure, total (% of GDP)
..
..
..
..
Gross capital formation (annual % growth)
..
‐0.503
..
‐3.935
GDP (current US$)
81,269,342,208
67,170,590,720
88,234,606,592
55,363,346,432
Gross capital formation (current US$)
17,675,143,168
14,695,582,720
20,971,626,496
11,247,457,280
Labor force, total
1,554,381
1,895,537
1,630,625
1,904,922
CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita)
9.945
8.014
10.314
7.712
GDP growth (annual %)
11.680
1.525
8.525
0.433
13
YR1999
YR2000
YR2001
Ireland
NZ
Ireland
NZ
Ireland
NZ
25848.230
18991.421
28504.979
19703.766
30410.261
20787.250
9.481
4.714
7.926
1.538
4.175
3.017
1.640
‐0.114
5.565
2.615
4.872
2.626
38.445
21.496
38.622
23.247
39.240
24.688
..
..
21.929
..
..
..
24.394
22.266
25.052
21.575
23.551
22.349
5.700
6.800
4.300
5.900
3.700
5.300
..
..
34.277
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
42.049
..
..
..
..
..
7.443
..
..
..
45.892
64.339
48.643
66.398
50.467
67.870
..
..
12.264
..
..
..
..
..
16.314
..
..
..
13.859
18.352
13.783
17.505
14.561
17.413
0.747
1.258
0.702
1.226
0.715
1.146
..
..
..
..
6.900
8.300
..
16.802
..
‐1.063
..
6.745
96,539,951,104
58,052,284,416
96,326,606,848
52,674,342,912
104,480,088,064
52,395,872,256
23,549,861,888
12,926,068,736
24,131,287,040
11,364,408,320
24,606,263,296
11,709,979,648
1,700,288
1,920,188
1,758,856
1,938,033
1,797,499
1,975,328
10.814
7.987
10.857
8.372
11.346
8.724
10.722
5.266
9.374
2.139
5.846
3.624
14
YR2002
YR2003
YR2004
Ireland
NZ
Ireland
NZ
Ireland
NZ
32263.974
21734.914
33816.366
22505.052
35625.862
23643.381
4.271
2.761
2.625
1.383
2.445
2.160
4.652
2.677
3.480
1.754
2.195
2.291
39.942
23.871
39.911
23.754
39.605
23.566
..
..
..
..
..
..
22.859
22.154
23.867
23.688
24.728
24.624
4.200
5.200
4.400
4.600
4.400
3.900
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
53.569
69.152
55.494
70.915
58.058
85.664
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
15.011
17.290
15.098
17.427
15.724
17.687
0.647
1.080
0.610
1.057
0.576
1.026
7.100
8.500
7.300
8.400
7.500
8.500
..
6.478
..
14.400
..
7.972
122,291,453,952
60,441,542,656
156,818,505,728
80,681,435,136
183,224,729,600
98,418,376,704
27,954,356,224
13,390,435,328
37,427,765,248
19,111,434,240
45,308,542,976
24,234,174,464
1,846,046
2,034,487
1,883,405
2,072,737
1,978,441
2,136,869
11.017
8.432
10.520
8.030
10.401
7.717
6.033
4.561
4.292
3.404
4.310
3.690
15
YR2005
Average
YR2006
Ireland
NZ
Ireland
NZ
Ireland
NZ
37886.474
24566.078
40268.403
25517.383
30933.063
21308.937
3.223
0.852
3.005
0.665
5.511
1.684
2.432
3.037
3.939
3.365
3.260
2.070
39.790
22.088
..
..
38.450
22.847
..
..
..
..
21.929
22.608
27.103
24.769
..
..
24.119
22.624
4.300
3.700
..
..
5.456
5.489
..
..
..
..
34.277
36.172
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
42.049
43.759
..
..
..
..
7.443
6.449
58.158
82.243
..
..
52.897
72.369
..
..
..
..
12.264
11.373
..
..
..
..
16.314
15.811
15.850
18.312
..
..
14.778
17.789
0.569
1.003
0.531
1.001
0.683
1.144
8.200
8.900
..
..
7.400
8.520
..
3.328
..
..
..
5.580
200,426,307,584
109,754,982,400
220,137,078,784
104,518,918,144
134,974,867,046
73,947,169,178
54,320,979,968
27,185,453,056
..
..
30,660,647,367
16,207,221,532
2,050,386
2,175,249
2,127,930
2,219,464
1,832,786
2,027,282
..
..
..
..
10.652
8.123
5.523
1.997
5.700
1.900
7.201
2.854
16