standards are still well below the prewar level, but any estimates
have a wide range of error.

Ireland:
Ireland is a small, modern, trade-dependent economy with
growth averaging a robust 9% in 1995-2000. Agriculture, once the
most important sector, is now dwarfed by industry, which accounts
for 38% of GDP and about 80% of exports and employs 28% of the labor
force. Although exports remain the primary engine for Ireland's
robust growth, the economy is also benefiting from a rise in
consumer spending and recovery in both construction and business
investment. Over the past decade, the Irish government has
implemented a series of national economic programs designed to curb
inflation, reduce government spending, increase labor force skills,
and promote foreign investment. Ireland joined in launching the euro
currency system in January 1999 along with 10 other EU nations. The
Irish economy is in danger of overheating, with the tight labor
market driving up wage demands and inflation.

Israel:
Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with
substantial government participation. It depends on imports of crude
oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited
natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural
and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel is largely
self-sufficient in food production except for grains. Cuts diamonds,
high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and
vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable
current account deficits, which are covered by large transfer
payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the
government's external debt is owed to the US, which is its major
source of economic and military aid. The influx of Jewish immigrants
from the former USSR topped 750,000 during the period 1989-99,
bringing the population of Israel from the former Soviet Union to 1
million, one-sixth of the total population, and adding scientific
and professional expertise of substantial value for the economy's
future. The influx, coupled with the opening of new markets at the
end of the Cold War, energized Israel's economy, which grew rapidly
in the early 1990s. But growth began moderating in 1996 when the
government imposed tighter fiscal and monetary policies and the
immigration bonus petered out. Growth was a strong 5.9% in 2000. But