17/6/2014: Ireland's Regulatory 'Resource Curse'

My WallStreet Journal op-ed on the European Commission's investigation into Apple tax affairs in Ireland is linked here.

10/1/2013: Heritage Foundation IEF 2013: Ireland

Heritage Foundation issued their annual Index of Economic Freedom.

Here is summary of results for Ireland and you can explore data and comparatives yourself here.

And some charts for regional peer group leaders (Switzerland and Ireland):

 And overall score comparatives:

As usual, my methodological criticism of this analysis is that it relies on GDP, not GNP, which means we get artificially inflated readings on all variables involving National Income. The analysis also omits consideration of indirect taxation burden.

Much of the weakness in individual methodologies can be glimpsed by using heat maps (here) which throw some bizarre results. But do have fun and explore...