The Irish GDP in 2016. After the Disaster Comes a Dilemma

Abstract

The paper examines the disruption of statistics with the publication of the 2015 Ireland GDP at +26.3 per cent year on year. The figure was greeted by international disbelief. Ireland’s statistical authorities reacted with the publication, for the main aggregates, of modified data in parallel with the official one, much less affected by the bias on value added. The bias resulted from the relocation in Ireland of a huge amount of intellectual property capital, of the dimension of the GDP itself.To fix the link between statistical representation and economic fact means to depart from the legal form to let the substance prevail, i.e. depart from the description given by business reports and administrative data.