John McHale is established professor of economics and director of the Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change at NUI Galway. He is also chairperson of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. He previously held appointments as associate professor of managerial economics at the Queen's School of Business, Ontario and as assistant and associate professor of economics at Harvard University, where he also received his PhD in 1996. He is currently a member of the National Economic and Social Council, associate editor of the Economic and Social Review, and vice-president of the Irish Economics Association.