Ireland’s Post-Crisis Recovery, 2012-2019: Was It Pro-Poor?

Abstract

This paper examines anonymous and non-anonymous Growth Incidence Curves (GICs) for after-tax disposable income for Ireland during its recovery period after the Great Recession, 2012-2019. In the absence of suitable panel data, the non-anonymous GICs were constructed on a cohort basis with cohorts formed on the basis of gender, highest level of education attained and the year of that attainment. Both types of GICs are broadly downward sloping over the period indicating that growth was pro-poor on average. Older and less well-educated cohorts fared relatively better over the recovery period, with the corollary that younger, more highly educated cohorts fared relatively less well. Virtually every cohort experienced positive growth however.