David McWilliams: Ireland’s banks are simply not lendingBanks are afraid to lend and parts of the economy are strapped for cashSat Aug 19 2023 - 06:00
David McWilliams: Irish banks are at it again, cheating savers out of their moneyOur banks are the most rapacious in Europe when it comes to lending and borrowing. The solution is obviousSat Aug 12 2023 - 06:00
David McWilliams: Ireland must spend money or risk social implosion as population growsIf they experience a falling quality of life, citizens might look for someone to blameSat Aug 05 2023 - 06:00
David McWilliams: Case for nuclear power is strongest since time of OppenheimerCillian Murphy may end up kicking off a nuclear debate, pitting Ireland’s emerging Nuclear Bros against our established Windscale WarriorsSat Jul 29 2023 - 06:00
David McWilliams: Degrowth is supposed to save the world, but it’s not that simpleDavid McWilliams: The concept sounds attractive but it is not the catch-all cure for global warmingSat Jul 22 2023 - 06:00
David McWilliams: Are you one of Ireland’s Outsiders or Insiders?David McWilliams: In a litany of projects paid for by the average citizen, cost overruns are blithely accepted and more money seems to shift from the Outsiders to the InsidersSat Jul 15 2023 - 06:00
David McWilliams: Politicians and economists differ over way forward for Irish economy - but who is right?David McWilliams: One wants to spend, the other says save. Who is right about the appropriate course of action for Ireland’s booming economy?Sat Jul 08 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: How Ireland became the most expensive economy in EuropeIf the Government can’t control its costs, increases spill over into the rest of the economy, driving up inflationSat Jul 01 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: It’s a tragedy that so many people leave school hating mathsThe recent furore over the Leaving Cert maths exam is a shame, but there is a way to instil a love of the subject in our young studentsSat Jun 24 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: The economies of North and South are slowly integratingAs both jurisdictions integrate further, the economic distinctions between the North and South will have almost disappeared by the time a Border poll is calledSat Jun 10 2023 - 05:00
Ireland is bogged down in a generation war between the young and the old on housingIrish land is way overpriced. It’s a scam foisted on the people by those who own land and their supportersSat Jun 03 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: There is no divine right to drive, let alone park your carAll progressive cities prioritise walking, cycling and street life over this regressive use of public spaceSat May 27 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Can you name the capital city of continental Europe’s most dynamic economy?Poland’s economic turnaround has been impressive, and it is now poised to be at the centre of a new reconfiguration of EuropeSat May 20 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Ireland’s choice is Ryanair-style growth or dull accountancyPrudence is an affliction that affects many economists who seem to believe that saving money is the way to prosperity.Sat May 13 2023 - 05:10
David McWilliams: The genesis of Ireland’s rugby renaissance came from a saving scheme ‘SSIA babies’ can make this Ireland’s rugby decadeSat May 06 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Ireland’s dream economy, fuelled by artists, is thrivingThe dream economy is the commercialisation of emotions, the monetisation of feelings and identitySat Apr 29 2023 - 11:32
David McWilliams: Ireland is awash with money. Sitting on it would be a monumental wasteWhen a country or a person is poor, they live in the present but when you are rich you can live in the future, you can plan aheadSat Apr 22 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Ireland could transform itself by implementing one form of soft powerDavid McWilliams: A system to bring over the young global Irish to the ‘old country’ each year would pay off in spadesSat Apr 15 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: There is a mismatch between what Irish people believe is happening and what is actually going onIf we feel our lives are improving, then surely the country can’t be heading for disaster. And what might this disparity mean for politics as the election race tightens?Sat Apr 08 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Just imagine a new Dublin city on the sea. A 260-hectare golden opportunityDavid McWilliams: Can you imagine any other European maritime city treating the sea with the same disregard Dublin does?Sat Apr 01 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Although wealthy, Ireland feels completely different from most other wealthy countriesIn economic language, Ireland appears to be stuck in a permanent state of fragile equilibriumSat Mar 25 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: We are heading into global financial crises. Will it be 2008 all over again?We are back in the land of the bank bailout. No two crises are quite the same but the direction of travel is similarSat Mar 18 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: As connectivity improves, more and more young people will flee Dublin More and more young people are fleeing Dublin for plugged-in, vibrant countryside idyllsSat Mar 11 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Will unionism opt for sub-par living standards over an economic reset?David McWilliams: Northern Ireland began with a huge economic advantage over Republic. But look at it nowSat Mar 04 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: The problem with ‘land capture’ – one of the easiest ways to make ‘free’ money in IrelandState should ensure it gets ‘free’ money that so many individual landowners avail of in IrelandSat Feb 25 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: In a world where ChatGPT exists, the Leaving Cert is redundant Developments such as ChatGPT require a shift from rote learning in our education systemSat Feb 18 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: No country that has ever embraced a far-right agenda has progressedAlthough immigration is good for the economy at large, it is not good for everyone. The answer? Build housesSat Feb 11 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Ignore the false stories – the facts show that immigrants make a country richerStatistics show host nations often get the best and brightest the world has to offerSat Feb 04 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Decades of recurring housing crises remains a reality - penalising the young, rewarding the old When the young are penalised and the old rewarded, generational conflict is exacerbated. We need a radically new approach that’s focused on the long-termSat Jan 28 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: It has never been so expensive to be a 30-something in IrelandLife has been tough for the people born in the Irish Renaissance, between qualifying for Euro '88 and being knocked out of USA '94Sat Jan 21 2023 - 06:00
David McWilliams: A brazen, rebellious collective two-fingers have been shoved up to the Moscow bullyThe map of Europe is being redrawn. Whatever happens, there is no going back to where things stood before the war beganSat Jan 14 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Who is going to rent all these expensive offices now? The US is pre-eminent yet again, and what happens there will have repercussions for all of usSat Jan 07 2023 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Difference in affluence between those who own their own homes and those who rent in Ireland is off the scaleSpurious planning objections amount to anti-social behaviour - we should build and buildSat Dec 24 2022 - 06:00
David McWilliams: Central bankers have become celebrities. And they understand less than we thought they didPendulum likely to will swing against central bank independence in coming years as governments try to wrest control of money from the technocratsSat Dec 17 2022 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Hold on tight as the credit cycle will take off again, euphoricallyHumans are social and booms and busts are a reflection of hyper-sociability. You can’t speculate or gamble alone. These are crowd phenomenaSat Dec 10 2022 - 06:09
David McWilliams: How will Ireland fare as world enters a new economic era?Economic growth is like a giant game of Scrabble: diversity is the road to richesSat Dec 03 2022 - 05:00
David McWilliams: The financial tide is going out ... Keep your togs onThe soaring shares of various ‘tech’ companies are crashing. The tide is going outSat Nov 26 2022 - 06:36
David McWilliams: A new united Ireland must plan for a population of 10 millionLike parents shopping for teenagers, we should plan for more not less growthSat Nov 19 2022 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Have you noticed an increase in the number of houses for sale in your area?Property moves much slower than finance but the iron law of money always reasserts itself. When interest rates rise, prices fall. SimpleSat Nov 12 2022 - 05:00
David McWilliams: China will use Russia as its petrol station. This is Russia’s – and maybe Putin’s – lifelineEvents in China this week may seem remote, but they are not. These realignments constitute a threat to many countries, but they also offer a huge opportunity for IrelandSat Oct 29 2022 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Britain, the former workshop of the world, is now a beggar. It is tragic how far it has fallenRoots of crisis can be traced back to Thatcher experiment, which was a heist by one class and one region over the restSat Oct 22 2022 - 05:00
David McWilliams: The horror show in the UK is both instructive and a cautionary taleIf the UK, for centuries the home of financial capitalism, can’t stabilise its own bond market, what hope has the rest of the world?Sat Oct 15 2022 - 05:00
David McWilliams: Opec’s leaders had a choice, and they chose Putin. We shouldn’t be surprisedIt is unlikely that communism in the USSR would have collapsed with oil prices at $60 a barrelSat Oct 08 2022 - 05:05
David McWilliams: Ireland’s financial strategy can be summed up as talking European, walking American, sounding IrishWith a low-tax/high-spend economy, Ireland is where most economies want to beSat Oct 01 2022 - 05:00
David McWilliams: The ‘Ireland is crap’ brigade are way off mark but we need to sort the housing crisisLevels of income inequality between top earners and bottom earners are far better than UK and on par with other EU countriesSat Sept 24 2022 - 05:00
David McWilliams: The property market and its players have changed profoundly since 2008. We are now dealing with a different beastThe fight against inflation will be a long hard slog with severe implications for interest ratesSat Sept 17 2022 - 05:15
David McWilliams: Is Ireland going back to the 1970s when shared baths and immersion neurosis reigned?Families tried to economise, behaviours changed and conserving energy by driving only when necessary and storing candles was commonplaceSat Sept 10 2022 - 04:15
David McWilliams: Watching the Soviet world collapse while living with Gorbachev’s people in RussiaI witnessed the whole Soviet world collapsing from the inside with Gorbachev’s childrenSat Sept 03 2022 - 05:00
David McWilliams: People think because there’s a shortage of property, we will not have a property slump. They’re wrongAs the Robert Troy saga reveals, the nexus of politicians, banks, developers and the land lobby is still firmly in place, over a decade after the crashSat Aug 27 2022 - 05:15
David McWilliams: Economic history reminds us how the world works. Are we paying attention?The Roman Empire had a common currency and frequent credit crises. The euro zone looks to be heading down that same, well-trodden roadSat Aug 20 2022 - 05:00