Irish GDP is inflated by multinational profit-shifting and overstates national output

Evidence

As we shall detail in the conclusion, it’s best to use GNP rather than GDP in the Irish case, since Ireland is a base for foreign multinationals that declare profits in Ireland for tax reasons. As such, Ireland’s net income from foreign sources and its foreign obligations are outsized relative to other countries and its services exports are overstated. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 767

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Mattei and austerity literature that treats Ireland as a canonical austerity case — GDP vs GNP distortion is a real methodological wedge in that debate. — connects to: Irish GDP is inflated by multinational tax booking rather than real activity — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 634; Ireland’s export surge reflects multinational accounting, not real economic recovery — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 635; 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

• Bauer rejected GDP per capita statistics as misleading measures of development #corroborates (0.72) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1316