Inside the Celtic Tiger: The Irish Economy and the Asian Model (Contemporary Irish Studies) [Hardcover]

Denis O'Hearn (Author)

Book Description

Series: Contemporary Irish Studies | Publication Date: September 1, 1998

One of the poorest states in the European Union during the 1980s, the Republic of Ireland's economy has grown rapidly in the 1990s, despite an overwhelming dependence on foreign capital. Echoing the "tiger" economies of East Asia, this has led many to dub Ireland the Celtic Tiger. In this critique by one of Ireland's leading economists, Denis O'Hearn sets Ireland's economic success in an international context and contrasts and compares its growth with the other "tiger" economies. He addresses some difficult but crucial questions, such as whether Ireland's apparent success is self-sustaining and what lessons can be learned from the downturn of the comparable East Asian economies. The study focuses on the importance for Ireland's rising economy of three US-led industrial sectors - computers, electrical engineering and pharmaceuticals. O'Hearn assesses who wins and who loses from such foreign capital-led growth - in the context of working conditions, poverty, consumption and inequality - and argues that the country's apparently significant economic achievements are dominated by growth in corporate profits and professional incomes, but that there is no evidence, as yet, of "trickle-down" to other sectors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Politicians ought to take a few pages [of Inside the Celtic Tiger] before breakfast every day.' Books Ireland'A stimulating and provocative account of the dilemmas of development in an era of globalization.' Irish Journal of Sociology --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Denis O'Hearn is a Reader in Sociology at The Queen's University of Belfast. He is a former Fulbright Professor at University College Dublin and an Associate Professor of Sociology at The University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is editor of the Irish Journal of Sociology (USA) and has written widely on economic development for a range of Irish and US journals. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Pluto Pr (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745312888
• ISBN-13: 978-0745312880
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,838,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, balanced, and thought-provoking., December 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside the Celtic Tiger: The Irish Economy and the Asian Model (Contemporary Irish Studies) (Hardcover)

A well written, balanced, and thought-provoking account of the Irish economic phenomenon. Denis O'Hearn confirms that government intervention has played an important role in boosting Ireland's growth. The IDA's gamble in offering huge incentives to Intel to locate near Dublin, for instance, has paid off in a big way. But he tempers his analysis by drawing attention to the way that misleading GDP numbers have overstated the Irish economy's true rate of growth. Displaying an exceptionally well informed understanding of the East Asian tigers, he correctly concludes that Ireland's effort to build its economic prowess, while impressive by European standards, falls short in many respects compared to that of nations like Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea. Eamonn Fingleton, author of "In Praise of Hard Industries: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Economy, is the Key to Future Prosperity" ( to be published by Houghton Mifflin in June 1999).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, balanced, and thought-provoking., December 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside the Celtic Tiger: The Irish Economy and the Asian Model (Contemporary Irish Studies) (Hardcover)

A well written, balanced, and thought-provoking account of the Irish economic phenomenon. O'Hearn confirms that government intervention has played an important role in boosting Ireland's growth. The IDA's gamble in offering huge incentives to Intel to locate near Dublin, for instance, has paid off in a big way. But he tempers analysis by drawing attention to the way that misleading GDP numbers have overstated the Irish economy's true rate of growth.

Eamonn Fingleton, author of "In Praise of Hard Industries: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Economy, is the Key to Future Prosperity" ( to be published by Houghton Mifflin in June 1999).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Glass Half Empty or Half Full?, July 25, 2001

By 

Edward Chao (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside the Celtic Tiger: The Irish Economy and the Asian Model (Contemporary Irish Studies) (Paperback)

Enjoyed this account of the Irish economy. There are some good insights into the nature of technology lead industrialization, and some of the distortions and exaggerations caused by such development. O'Hearn does a good job at deflating some of the euphoria over high tech in Ireland.

At the same time, the tone of pessimism pervading the book seems unwarranted. Multinational corporations (MNCs) are vilified, and even Singapore is criticized for adopting a similar model for national development. MNCs have real issues but on the whole deserve higher marks than what O'Hearn grants them. O'Hearn also bemoans that Irish workers are often assigned more mundane tasks like software localization, comparing the work to that of mind numbing sweatshops or assembly lines. Ireland's contributions to the IT industry should be a source of pride, and the opportunity to take leadership will arise as a natural outgrowth of the industry's voracious appetite for talent, just as advanced R&D has taken root in Israel, India, and other places.