>To the unschooled (like me) the Irish "miracle" seems to contradict the
> notion that successful development can't be done with the orthodox package
> of free trade, FDI, and "prudent" macro policies. Anyone else know better?
I don't claim to know better, but it is interesting to note that, according to the UN Human Development Report 1999 (thanks to Angela for the URL), "The industrialized countries with the highest poverty according to the HPI-2 are the United States (16.5%), Ireland (15.3%) and the United Kingdom (15.1%)." Evidently Ireland has reproduced the sort of unequal distribution of income typical of the US and the UK rather than the patterns of some of the continental EU members. I don't have any numbers at hand but the Irish press has often reported on the regional disparities with Ireland, particularly on the fact that much of Connacht (the western region of the country) has been left behind the other parts of the country, while Dublin in particular has "inner city" blighted neighborhoods with high concentrations of unemployment, etc.
K.Mickey