>In Ireland, the ratio of GNP to GDP is about 80% -- they have a lot of
>foreign companies which pay their earnings straight out overseas and so are
>part of GDP but not GNP. In the UK, the ratio is substantially above 100%,
>because we're such big net owners of overseas assets.
A few years ago, a story was circulating that Ireland's growth figures were inflated by the transfer pricing trickery of multinationals. I feel some attachment to this line, since I wrote it up in LBO. Does anyone say this anymore?
>So -- the Irish produce more than us, but we're richer. It was a bit
>naughty of Wolf to say this in the text, but print a chart that carried the
>opposite message. BTW, have you seen his ludicrous doublethink on the
>subject of labout protection laws in today's FT? sorry can't provide a
>link because bizarrely, our firewall blocks ft.com.
<http://www.ft.com/hippocampus/q11c6da.htm>.
Doug