ABSTRACT
The economic systems on the island of Ireland have changed greatly in the past century. For most of the twentieth century the standard of living in independent Ireland was below the Western European average. The general impression was of economic backwardness and industrial stagnation. By the beginning of the twenty-first century it had the fastest rate of economic growth and was looked upon as a model for new member states of the European Union. Then the banking crisis of 2008 severely weakened the Irish financial system, brought economic crisis and forced the government to seek international support. At the start of the twentieth century Northern Ireland, especially the Belfast region, had a modern industrial economy and its manufacturing strength made it very different from the agricultural-based economy of the rest of the island. By the middle of the century, the long-term decline of Northern Ireland’s key industries such as linen, engineering and shipbuilding threatened the region’s economic prosperity. It now relies on a large public sector and, following the financial crisis of 2008, faces difficulties in trying to develop a flourishing private sector. Today, both parts of the island are integrated into the global market and both face the same competitive challenges.
