The Unhelpful Mister Rehn

Tom McDonnell: Mr. Rehn's recent open letter on fiscal multipliers; the effects of discretionary fiscal consolidation; and the relevance of economic theory and evidence, was a truly dispiriting and perplexing intervention.

It is easy to understand why the handling of the Euro crisis has been such an unmitigated shambles with people like Mr. Rehn running the show. We deserve better.

The Commissioner is taken to task by Jonathan Portes here and by Karl Whelan here. Both contributions are well worth a read.

Confidence indeed.

Posted in: Europe • Europe • Fiscal policy

Tagged with: EU Commission • Euro crisis • fiscal strategy

Dr Tom McDonnell

Tom McDonnell is senior economist at the NERI and is responsible for among other things, NERI's analysis of the Republic of Ireland economy including risks, trends and forecasts. He specialises in economic growth theory, the economics of innovation, the Irish and European economies, and fiscal policy. He previously worked as an economist at TASC and before that was a lecturer in economics at NUI Galway and at DCU. He has also taught at Maynooth University.

Tom obtained his PhD in economics from NUI Galway.