That distinctive pattern of globalization meant that the most common measure of economic performance – GDP – is quite misleading for Ireland, exceeding as it does by over 25 per cent the aggregate statistic which better measures the national component of production, GNP.
Though GNP growth was certainly very strong in the period from 1994–2007, and reached a very high level in per person terms, growth rates and levels of GNP have been much lower than GDP. Indeed in the recent downturn, quarterly GNP has fallen 20 per cent peak to trough – much more than GDP.