Macroeconomic Policy under EMU

During 2007-2010, I am leading an IRCHSS-sponsored thematic research project "An Analysis of the Impact of European Monetary Union on Irish Macroeconomic Policy". 

During 2007-2008, the research team also included a post-doctoral research fellow Vahagn Galstyan and TCD PhD students Agustin Benetrix and Martin Schmitz.

During 2008-2009, Vahagn Galstyan has moved on to a lectureship in economics at TCD but remains part of the team. Agustin Benetrix is the research fellow for 2008-2009, while the PhD students working on the project are Christiane Hellmanzik and Peter McQuade.

During 2009-2010,   Agustin Benetrix has now moved on to an IRCHSS postdoctoral fellowship.  The PhD students working on the project are Christiane Hellmanzik, Peter McQuade and Donal Mullins.


The first publication from this project is "Fiscal Policy for a Slowing Economy", which was published by the ESRI in its Budget Perspectives 2008 volume. I have written a summary of this paper for the RGE European EconoMonitor blog.

In July 2008, we have released a new research paper under this project: "The Composition of Government Spending and the Real Exchange Rate" (IIIS Discussion Paper No. 257 by Vahagn Galstyan and Philip R. Lane).  This paper was presented at the 2009 Royal Economic Society Conference in April 2009 and the European Economics Association Annual Congress in Barcelona in August 2009.  A revised version (December 2008) is available here.  This paper has now been published in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking.

In October 2008,  I presented a paper "Setting a Course for Irish Fiscal Policy"  to the ESRI Budget Perspectives 2009 conference. 


In December 2008,  we have released a new research paper "Fiscal Policy and International Competitiveness: Evidence from Ireland" (IIIS Discussion Paper No. 274 by Vahagn Galstyan and Philip R. Lane).  This paper was published in the Autumn 2009 issue of the Economic and Social Review.

In January 2009,   I presented a paper "A New Fiscal Strategy for Ireland"  to the DEW-UCD Economics Conference Responding to the Crisis.  This paper was published in the Summer 2009 issue of the Economic and Social Review.

In February 2009, we have released a new research paper "The Impact of Fiscal Shocks on the Irish Economy" ( IIIS Discussion Paper No. 281 by Agustin Benetrix and Philip R. Lane).  A revised version of this paper has been published in the Winter 2009 issue of the Economic and Social Review.

In March 2009,  we have released a new research paper "Fiscal Shocks and the Real Exchange Rate" (IIIS Discussion Paper No. 286 by Agustin Benetrix and Philip R. Lane).  This paper was presented at the University of Birmingham's  Macroeconomics/Econometrics conference on May 6th 2009, the Society for Economic Dynamics (SED) conference in Istanbul in July 2009 and a London Business School seminar in October 2009.  A revised version of this paper will be presented at the Bank of Spain Fiscal Conference in February 2010 and the CEPR MGI Conference in Eltville in March 2010.

In May 2009,   I presented a paper "Current Challenges for Irish Fiscal Policy" to the DEW-TCD Economics Conference.  It is available as Irish Economy Note No. 3.

In August 2009, we released a new paper  "Fiscal Shocks and the Sectoral Composition of Output" (with Agustin Benetrix), IIIS Discussion Paper No. 294, August 2009.   A revised version of this paper is forthcoming in Open Economies Review.

In October 2009,  I participated in a panel on the Commission on Taxation 2009 report at the ESRI Budget Perspectives 2010 conference.   My contribution is available as Irish Economy Note No. 7.

In January 2010,  the paper "External Imbalances and Fiscal Policy" was issued as IIIS Discussion Paper No. 314.  







Other Relevant Work


Philip R. Lane, "Irish Fiscal Policy under EMU,"  Irish Banking Review,  1998.

Philip R. Lane, "Budgetary Policy in Times of Plenty,"  ESRI Budget Perspectives 2000, 1999.

Philip R. Lane, "What Should We Do with the Surpluses?," Administration, 2000.