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Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger

by O'Toole, Fintan | HC | VeryGood
US $6.06
Condition:
Very Good
May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend ... Read moreabout condition
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eBay item number:146271035624
Last updated on Jul 18, 2025 16:47:30 PDTView all revisionsView all revisions

Item specifics

Condition
Very Good
A book that does not look new and has been read but is in excellent condition. No obvious damage to the cover, with the dust jacket (if applicable) included for hard covers. No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, and no underlining/highlighting of text or writing in the margins. May be very minimal identifying marks on the inside cover. Very minimal wear and tear. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. See all condition definitionsopens in a new window or tab
Seller Notes
“May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend ...
Binding
Hardcover
Weight
1 lbs
Product Group
Book
IsTextBook
No
ISBN
9781586488819
Book Title
Ship of Fools : How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger
Publisher
Public Affairs
Item Length
9.2 in
Publication Year
2010
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Illustrator
Yes
Item Height
1 in
Author
Fintan O'toole
Genre
Political Science, Business & Economics, History
Topic
Political Economy, Corruption & Misconduct, Finance / General, World / European, Economic Conditions, Europe / Ireland, Public Policy / Economic Policy
Item Weight
15 oz
Item Width
6.1 in
Number of Pages
240 Pages
Category

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Public Affairs
ISBN-10
1586488813
ISBN-13
9781586488819
eBay Product ID (ePID)
79840385

Product Key Features

Book Title
Ship of Fools : How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger
Number of Pages
240 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2010
Topic
Political Economy, Corruption & Misconduct, Finance / General, World / European, Economic Conditions, Europe / Ireland, Public Policy / Economic Policy
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Political Science, Business & Economics, History
Author
Fintan O'toole
Format
Hardcover

Dimensions

Item Height
1 in
Item Weight
15 oz
Item Length
9.2 in
Item Width
6.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience
Trade
Dewey Edition
22
Reviews
Brian Groom, Financial Times "O'Toole ... has produced a coruscating polemic against the cronyism and corruption that in his view helped to fuel the boom.... [H]is highly readable book is a salutary reminder that cronyism, light regulation and loose ethics can be a deadly combination." Cleveland Plain Dealer "An interesting and readable post-mortem.... Ship of Fools is not just for those drawn to Irish politics or economics. Americans, in particular, will relate to Ireland's battle to restore its economy and renew faith in its leaders.", Brian Groom, Financial Times "O'Toole … has produced a coruscating polemic against the cronyism and corruption that in his view helped to fuel the boom…. [H]is highly readable book is a salutary reminder that cronyism, light regulation and loose ethics can be a deadly combination." Cleveland Plain Dealer "An interesting and readable post-mortem…. Ship of Fools is not just for those drawn to Irish politics or economics. Americans, in particular, will relate to Ireland's battle to restore its economy and renew faith in its leaders.", Brian Groom, Financial Times "O'Toole & has produced a coruscating polemic against the cronyism and corruption that in his view helped to fuel the boom&. [H]is highly readable book is a salutary reminder that cronyism, light regulation and loose ethics can be a deadly combination." Cleveland Plain Dealer "An interesting and readable post-mortem&. Ship of Fools is not just for those drawn to Irish politics or economics. Americans, in particular, will relate to Ireland's battle to restore its economy and renew faith in its leaders.", Brian Groom,Financial Times "O'Toole … has produced a coruscating polemic against the cronyism and corruption that in his view helped to fuel the boom…. [H]is highly readable book is a salutary reminder that cronyism, light regulation and loose ethics can be a deadly combination.", Brian Groom,Financial Times "O'Toole … has produced a coruscating polemic against the cronyism and corruption that in his view helped to fuel the boom…. [H]is highly readable book is a salutary reminder that cronyism, light regulation and loose ethics can be a deadly combination." Cleveland Plain Dealer "An interesting and readable post-mortem….Ship of Foolsis not just for those drawn to Irish politics or economics. Americans, in particular, will relate to Ireland's battle to restore its economy and renew faith in its leaders."
Dewey Decimal
330.94170824
Synopsis
The death of the Celtic tiger is not an extinction event to trouble naturalists. There was, in fact nothing natural about this tiger, if it ever really existed. The "Irish Economic miracle" was built on good old-fashioned subsidies (from the European Union) and the simple fact that until the 1980s Ireland was by the standards of the developed world so economically backward that the only way was up. And as it began to catch up to European and American averages, the Irish economy could boast some seemingly remarkable statistics. These lured in investors, the Irish deregulated and all but abandoned financial oversight, and a great Irish financial ceilidh began. It would last for a decade. When the global financial crash of 2008 arrived it struck Ireland harder than anywhere - even Iceland looked like a model of rectitude compared to the fiasco that stretched from Cork to Dublin. There was an avalanche of statistics as toxic as the property-based assets that lay beneath many of them And under all this rubble lay the corpse of the Celtic Tiger. How Ireland managed to achieve such a spectacular implosion is a stunning story of corruption, carelessness and venality, told with passion and fury by one of Ireland's most respected journalists and commentators., The death of the Celtic tiger is not an extinction event to trouble naturalists. There was, in fact nothing natural about this tiger, if it ever really existed. The"Irish Economic miracle" was built on good old-fashioned subsidies (from the European Union) and the simple fact that until the 1980s Ireland was by the standards of the developed world so economically backward that the only way was up. And as it began to catch up to European and American averages, the Irish economy could boast some seemingly remarkable statistics. These lured in investors, the Irish deregulated and all but abandoned financial oversight, and a great Irish financial ceilidh began. It would last for a decade. When the global financial crash of 2008 arrived it struck Ireland harder than anywhere-even Iceland looked like a model of rectitude compared to the fiasco that stretched from Cork to Dublin. There was an avalanche of statistics as toxic as the property-based assets that lay beneath many of them: type="disc" The International Monetary Fund was predicting that Ireland's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would shrink by 13.5 per cent in 2009 and 2010-the worst performance among all the advanced economies and one of the worst ever recorded in peacetime in the developed world. type="disc" Government debt almost doubled in a year. type="disc" In May 2008, &euro13.5 million was paid for a 450-acre farm in Warrenstown, County Meath-one of the highest prices ever paid for agricultural land anywhere in the world. By 2009 the level of debt among Irish households and companies was the highest in the European Union. type="disc" The country's gross indebtedness was larger than Japan's, which has thirty times the population. type="disc" Between 1994 and 2006, the average second-hand house price in Dublin increased from &euro82,772 to &euro512,461-a rise of 519 per cent. By 2009 Irish house prices had fallen more rapidly than any others in Europe. type="disc" With a fifth of its office spaces empty, Dublin had the highest vacancy rate of any European capital and was rated as having the worst development and investment potential of twenty-seven European cities. type="disc" The Irish stock exchange fell by 68 per cent in 2008 type="disc" The average Irish family had lost almost half its financial assets type="disc" Unemployment rose faster than in any other Western European country, increasing by 85 per cent in a year. type="disc" Ireland's bad bank, the National Assets Management Agency (Nama), which had to take over &euro90 billion in loans to developers from banks that would otherwise be insolvent holds more assets [sic] than any publicly quoted property company in the world, dwarfing giants such as GE Capital Real Estate and Morgan Stanley Real Estate, which own assets of &euro60 billion and &euro48 billion respectively.And under all this rubble lay the corpse of the Celtic Tiger. How Ireland managed to achieve such a spectacular implosion is a stunning story of corruption, carelessness and venality, told with passion and fury by one of Ireland's most respected journalists and commentators., The death of the Celtic tiger is not an extinction event to trouble naturalists. There was, in fact nothing natural about this tiger, if it ever really existed. The "Irish Economic miracle" was built on good old-fashioned subsidies (from the European Union) and the simple fact that until the 1980s Ireland was by the standards of the developed world so economically backward that the only way was up. And as it began to catch up to European and American averages, the Irish economy could boast some seemingly remarkable statistics. These lured in investors, the Irish deregulated and all but abandoned financial oversight, and a great Irish financial ceilidh began. It would last for a decade. When the global financial crash of 2008 arrived it struck Ireland harder than anywhere - even Iceland looked like a model of rectitude compared to the fiasco that stretched from Cork to Dublin. There was an avalanche of statistics as toxic as the property-based assets that lay beneath many of them. And under all this rubble lay the corpse of the Celtic Tiger. How Ireland managed to achieve such a spectacular implosion is a stunning story of corruption, carelessness and venality, told with passion and fury by one of Ireland's most respected journalists and commentators.

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