Factors of economic growth in Ireland

Abstract

Irish economic growth has been an interesting phenomenon for several decades. The scale of success made the modernization process in this country known as an economic miracle. Although the dynamics of economic growth in Ireland is broadly analyzed in literature, the answer to the question of the factors is ambiguous. The main aim of the chapter is to assess the role of such factors of economic growth in Ireland as: inflows of foreign direct investments, grants from the European Union funds, and the role of the state in the economy. The chapter also contributes to an understanding of the role of institutional system in Ireland, which is fundamental to the process of growth. Although the analysis covers the period after the accession to European Community in 1973, special attention is paid to the periods of very high dynamics of growth in the 1990s and after the crisis of the last decade. Finally, there is question which the chapter tries to answer: if this system of specific factors of growth in Ireland that created conditions of economic success, would be the same in the context of quick recovery after the crisis.