Mohamed El-Erian: Ireland may be a poster child, but for what?

The experience of ‘graduating’ from the troika’s programme will inform how other countries, large and small, cope with austerity, writes Mohamed El-Erian.

Mohamed A El-Erian is CEO and co-chief investment officer of the global investment company PIMCO, with approximately $2tn in assets under management

BOTH SIDES of the austerity debate that is gripping economists and policymakers cite Ireland’s experience as evidence for their case. And, however much they try to position the country as a poster-child, neither side is able to convince the other. Yet this tug-of-war is important, because it illustrates the complex range of arguments that are in play. It also demonstrates why more conclusive economic policy-making is so elusive.