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A blog from the Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service

Economy and Finance Blog Archive

Here you will find an archive of Economy and Finance Blog articles published before 1 May 2022, divided into their relevant categories.

Economy

An image showing someone browsing on a screen.
This blog article focuses on key UK Government, Northern Ireland Executive and Departmental initiatives which are currently in place to address the digital divide in Northern Ireland (NI). Following…
An image showing a tablet in use
This blog article provides a brief overview of the ‘Digital Divide’. Drawing on the Northern Ireland experience, it explores key characteristics of the Digital Divide, as well as the…
The Nazareth Church on Berlin-Wedding’s Leopold Square with new seating area and ornamental fountains
Data recently released by the footfall-counter Springboard highlights how the number of shoppers in the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) town centres was down by a third (32.7%) when compared to…

Employment and Labour Market

An image of Titanic Quarter in Belfast
Northern Ireland (NI) was impacted heavily by the global recession that began in 2008. The recovery since has been slow in the United Kingdom (UK) and even slower in…

Energy

Image of wind farm in front of a setting sun
There was considerable growth in the development of renewable electricity over the previous Northern Ireland Assembly mandate. Changes to renewable electricity support may impact the ability to achieve similar levels…

Enterprise and Investment

This post examines financial support provided by Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) to businesses located in Northern Ireland (NI) from 2013-14 to 2017-18, identifying key impacts arising from that…

Finance

Stormont Estate in the autumn
This blog article is the second of two providing updates on NI’s public finances: Update no.1 looks back to a number of recent developments. This article looks forward to…
Image by Department of Finance: http://www.greenflagaward.org.uk/park-summary/?park=2343
The summer months are often quiet times for NI public finances. But, like so much else about 2020, this summer has been a little different. This blog article is…
An image showing an urban road at night with very little traffic
Governments around the world have undertaken very significant, and hugely costly, actions attempting to prop up businesses and employment through the course of the pandemic. The UK Government is…

Research and Innovation

Copy of the Northern Ireland Executive’s Economic Strategy and the Programme for Government Consultation Document
By Eóin Murphy, Michael Scholes, and Aidan Stennett The Northern Ireland Executive is currently revising its Economic Strategy.  What are the key factors it should take into consideration when…