The Irish Miracle

[Seth Ackerman]

	Doug wrote:

> Wolf himself says:
> 
> >Ireland has prospered by offering investors a stable, profitable, 
> >English-speaking base for production aimed at the EU market.
> 
> How many of those are there?
> 
> 
	The IMF would say that any developing country could be another
Ireland if it only got its policies in order. (Unless you're referring to
the "English-speaking" part, which I don't think was necessarily Wolf's main
point.) So, Doug, why can't Mexico get rich like Ireland can?

	You can point to Ireland's uniqueness as a participant in a big,
powerful currency area; but then the policy implication would be to
"dollarize" Latin America, like the right-wingers say. 

	So why should developing countries try anything risky, like a
debtors' cartel, when prudent policies and maybe a currency union with the
local big boy could give them 10 percent growth rates like Ireland? (Which
is now richer than its former colonial ruler, the UK.)   
	 
	Seth