Economic guide that doesn't really work

BOOK OF THE DAY: What WorksBy Hamish McRae Harper Press 328pp, £12.99

MOST INTERNATIONAL economists are now like globalised evangelists, commentators and televisual seers, often wrong but never in doubt. Also, as in this case, they come with a dollop of self-help and positive thinking.

Hamish McRae’s subject is things that work well, and he has an eclectic list which includes Harvard University, Ikea, the high-tech industries of Bangalore, India, and, yes, modern Ireland.

He claims not to be daunted by the global downturn but admits that “many of these case studies were researched and written in the boom years”. He covers himself by saying that the result is that the “what could go wrong” section of some chapters has become more a tale of “what has gone wrong”.

But, in fact, this is only half the story. The spirit of the book is clearly based on the upbeat atmosphere of a few years ago. Many of McRae’s examples are still based on the fundamentals of an open globalised marketplace which has now revealed itself to be disastrously problematic.

Hence, his ringing intro: “By any rational calculation the world is better placed now to make good choices about the future of our species and our planet.”

What? And this, a month after the fudge of the Copenhagen summit on climate change. “We are better educated than ever before,” he continues airily, “have better health and information; technology continues to leap forward; and, of course, we are – notwithstanding the odd bump – richer than ever before.”

Again, this might have been more valid two years ago. But anyway, surely the opposite is the case. Surely it is the relentless march of technology, compulsory economic growth and rampant materialism which is causing the current international crisis and fuelling the food shortages, unsustainable overpopulation, global warming and an international financial system which has all the discipline of a Las Vegas gaming table.

But McRae is a sunny optimist and a blithe endorser of the can-do materialist credo.

When it comes to Ireland, he rightly attributes much of our success to the very thing that will get us out of the current trough – our character and personality. This he finds relentlessly creative and optimistic, although he clearly hasn’t listened to enough of the whingeing that fills up much of our media and talk radio.

Our optimism he attributes to the realisation of where we’ve come from. He describes Ireland in 1990, when he lived here, and the great leaps forward in infrastructure and prosperity. The factors he attributes this to are familiar: low tax for inward investment, EU structural funds, investment in education, etc. But he also credits our spirit, humour and the confidence-lift of our big-brand popular culture, which is interesting given the recent debate about protecting the arts (for this very reason).

By contrast with much of our own doom-laden negativity, this is therefore a welcome read, even if a little optimistic and wrong-headed at times. It is written in a direct and engaging style, but McRae’s examples are quite disparate, and who can prove that they are applicable to any situation other than their own, even if he claims to detect common features?

McRae’s book would have been more timely two years ago, especially given that people are returning to the idea of local economies, self-sufficiency and less exposure to the vagaries of international markets.

Eamon Delaney's latest book is Breaking the Mould – A story of Art and Irelandpublished by New Island