Ireland’s export surge reflects multinational accounting, not real economic recovery

Evidence

This anomaly also explains the high rate of exports from Ireland, which went from 80 percent of GDP in 2007 to 101 percent of GDP in 2010, which is also held up as evidence of the boom after the bust. The revenue of multinationals operating out of Ireland is booked as an export of Irish services—even if there is no real economic activity going on. Given this, exports of services have grown five times faster than the export of goods. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 635

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the critique in the austerity literature that headline measures used to ‘prove’ austerity works are themselves artifacts of policy design (tax havens, bailout accounting). — connects to: Irish GDP is inflated by multinational tax booking rather than real activity — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 634; Irish GDP is inflated by multinational profit-shifting and overstates national output — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 767; Ireland’s reported export boom was inflated by tax-driven phantom service exports — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 636 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Irish GDP is inflated by multinational profit-shifting and overstates national output #corroborates (0.95) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 767
• Ireland’s reported export boom was inflated by tax-driven phantom service exports #exemplifies (0.90) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 636
• Ireland was promoted as austerity’s success model despite weak recovery evidence #qualifies (0.70) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 632