Economic Growth, Inequality, and Social Justice in the Celtic Tiger

The Republic of Ireland has been recently transformed by the economic boom that has impacted all sectors and social classes of Irish society while labeling Ireland with the nickname of "The Celtic Tiger" in an attempt to compare the period of rapid economic expansion with that of the four Asian Tigers. From independence in 1922 until 1987, the country struggled to find a path of economic development that would bring to its citizens a standard of living comparable to its Western European neighbors. Finally, a combination of circumstances and policy decisions came together in the late 1980s that gave Ireland the fastest growing economy in the world during the last decade of the twentieth century. This study consists of an in-depth look at the results of economic growth in terms of changes in income distribution, and then analyzes those results through a Rawlsian social justice perspective of inequality and fairness. Using Rawls' principles of justice, the study concludes that fairness has been compromised, especially in the analysis of income inequality and in the bases of self respect.