esigned to curb price and wage inflation, reduce government
spending, increase labor force skills, and promote foreign
investment. Ireland joined in circulating the euro on 1 January 2002
along with 11 other EU nations.

Isle of Man
Offshore banking, manufacturing, and tourism are key
sectors of the economy. The government offers incentives to
high-technology companies and financial institutions to locate on
the island; this has paid off in expanding employment opportunities
in high-income industries. As a result, agriculture and fishing,
once the mainstays of the economy, have declined in their shares of
GDP. The Isle of Man also attracts online gambling sites and the
film industry. Trade is mostly with the UK. The Isle of Man enjoys
free access to EU markets.

Israel
Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with
substantial, though diminishing, 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 imports substantial quantities of grain, but is
largely self-sufficient in other agricultural products. Cut
diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products
(fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually
posts sizable trade 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 bitter Israeli-Palestinian
conflict; difficulties in the high-technology, construction, and
tourist sectors; and fiscal austerity in the face of growing
inflation led to small declines in GDP in 2001 and 2002. The economy
rebounded in 2003-05, growing at a 4% rate each year, as the
government tightened fiscal policy and implemented structural
reforms to boost competition and efficiency in the markets. The
conflict with Lebanon in summer 2006 dampened slightly GDP growth
estimates for the year, but continuing strong foreign investment,
tax revenue, and private consumption levels helped the economy
recover quickly.

Italy
Italy has a diversified industrial economy with roughly the
same total and per capita output as France and the UK. This
capitalistic economy remains divided into a