<p>It is an national accounting reason, rather than the Irish people have higher incomes or being more productive</p>

<p>It seems that some companies previously deemed to be foreign are now deemed to be Irish, and so their profits now count towards Irish GDP (and, to the extent they are not a subsidiary of a foreign company and retain their profits, also to Irish Gross National Income).  The Irish Central Statistics Office said <a href="http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/nie/nationalincomeandexpenditureannualresults2015/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a 26.3% increase in GDP and 18.7% in GNI from 2014 to 2015 at constant prices</a></p>

<p>What may have happened is <em>inversion</em> where United States companies are notionally taken-over by Irish companies (though the old US shareholders remain shareholders of the new merged company), largely to take advantage of Ireland's generous corporation tax regime.  That makes their production/value-added/profits appear to be Irish this year, boosting Ireland's GDP compared with last year</p>

<p>Further reading from 10 months ago when this was noticed:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-s-gdp-figures-why-26-economic-growth-is-a-problem-1.2722170" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-s-gdp-figures-why-26-economic-growth-is-a-problem-1.2722170</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/12/irish-economic-growth-revised-figures-foreign-investment-aircraft" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/12/irish-economic-growth-revised-figures-foreign-investment-aircraft</a></li>
<li><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ireland-economy-idUKKCN0ZS0ZC" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ireland-economy-idUKKCN0ZS0ZC</a></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-02T13:37:05.257Z
2017-06-02T13:37:05.257Z
Henry
<p>I came across these graphs today :</p>

<p><a href="https://data.oecd.org/gdp/gross-domestic-product-gdp.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://data.oecd.org/gdp/gross-domestic-product-gdp.htm</a></p>

<p><a href="https://data.oecd.org/lprdty/gdp-per-hour-worked.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://data.oecd.org/lprdty/gdp-per-hour-worked.htm</a></p>

<p>In both, something doesn't make sense for me: the GDP per capita of Ireland had a 30% growth between 2014 and 2015. None of the other country seems to have such behavior. <br>
Does anybody know why? Is there any bank/debt/accounting reason for this sudden increase? A political reason?</p>

<macroeconomics><gdp><national-accounts>
why has the GDP per capita of Ireland grown of almost 30% between 2014 and 2015?
denis
# why has the GDP per capita of Ireland grown of almost 30% between 2014 and 2015?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-02)

I came across these graphs today :

<https://data.oecd.org/gdp/gross-domestic-product-gdp.htm>

<https://data.oecd.org/lprdty/gdp-per-hour-worked.htm>

In both, something doesn't make sense for me: the GDP per capita of Ireland had a 30% growth between 2014 and 2015. None of the other country seems to have such behavior.   
Does anybody know why? Is there any bank/debt/accounting reason for this sudden increase? A political reason?

**Tags:** macroeconomics, gdp, national-accounts

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-06-02. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

It is an national accounting reason, rather than the Irish people have higher incomes or being more productive

It seems that some companies previously deemed to be foreign are now deemed to be Irish, and so their profits now count towards Irish GDP (and, to the extent they are not a subsidiary of a foreign company and retain their profits, also to Irish Gross National Income). The Irish Central Statistics Office said [a 26.3% increase in GDP and 18.7% in GNI from 2014 to 2015 at constant prices](http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/nie/nationalincomeandexpenditureannualresults2015/)

What may have happened is *inversion* where United States companies are notionally taken-over by Irish companies (though the old US shareholders remain shareholders of the new merged company), largely to take advantage of Ireland's generous corporation tax regime. That makes their production/value-added/profits appear to be Irish this year, boosting Ireland's GDP compared with last year

Further reading from 10 months ago when this was noticed:

* <http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-s-gdp-figures-why-26-economic-growth-is-a-problem-1.2722170>
* <https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/12/irish-economic-growth-revised-figures-foreign-investment-aircraft>
* <http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ireland-economy-idUKKCN0ZS0ZC>


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