Golden Circle Report

TASC have performed a social network analysis of directorships of large private companies and state bodies in Ireland. The report provides social network graphs for directors showing patterns of linkages between directors across many major state institutions and private companies from 2005 - 2007.  The network pictures are great and will be of interest to anyone with any stake in the Irish economy. However, the arguments linking concentration of directorships to corporate governance are tricky to make from the data. Much of the report argues for greater diversity on boards, something that obviously has intuitive appeal to most of us not part of the wealthy elite. But at a fast reading, it doesn't look possible to use this type of data to demonstrate a causal effect of this type of concentration on either firm or economic performance though this is from a speed read. It is worth talking about what precisely these findings imply though we are likely to have a few days where such subtleties are overlooked.