Economic growth was strong in what are called the advanced economies and in the emerging markets, and stable conditions had prevailed for several years in the international financial markets, allowing the expectation that – in what was soon to be dubbed the “Great Moderation” – economic conditions in most countries of the world would at last begin to converge to a satisfactorily high level.
In Ireland, the Celtic Tiger period was well under way, with its seemingly miraculous performance in delivering increasingly high employment, increasing living standards and a balanced budget. And there is much to admire about economic performance in the mid-1990s.