23/9/2013: A summary of changes in the Irish GDP: 1970-2012

Summary of the changes in Irish GDP composition over 1970-2012 period (all in current market prices terms):

I marked in red bold those components that perform at their worst historical comparative in 2010-2012 period and in green bold those that perform at their historical best, as per their contributions to GDP.

Notable aspects of the above table:

1. The 'greedy decade' of the 2000s was actually distinguished by the lowest share of the economy accruing to personal consumption of goods and services - the Range Rovers of South Dublin didn't really cause the bust, folk...
2. Government spending rose, as a share of economy, in 2010s compared to 2000s and reached above the levels recorded in the 1990s, albeit still below the disastrous years of the 1980s.
3. Gross fixed capital formation has been demolished in the 2010s by the crisis, although its peak during the excesses of the 2000s was still lower than in the 1970s.
4. Exports of goods and services outstripped imports of goods and services, resulting in the net exports hitting their peak in the 2010s. Some 46 percent of our net external trade went out of the window as profits expatriated by the MNCs (and that is after we also account for profits on-shored into Ireland by Irish companies and investors).
5. Oh, and the fabled EU subsidies - well, these have been drained (note, these subsidies are reflected here gross, without accounting for EU taxes paid).