The regional dimension of taxes and public expenditure in Ireland

Abstract

In Ireland as in many other countries there has been an ongoing debate on the nature, degree and trends of regional imbalances. However, relatively little is known about the effects of policies at the regional level in Ireland. This paper considers two aspects of public policy namely the fiscal system and public expenditure. In particular regional government accounts are constructed, which identify the level of taxation, subsidisation and public expenditure at the regional level. The analysis of this data confirms that the fiscal system does reduce relative income differences in Ireland. Furthermore there are substantial resource transfers across regions.