These 39 articles, dating from 1932-1991, assess the economic history of Ireland since 1870, from the after-effects of the Great Famine to protectionism in the 1930s and Ireland's membership of the European Monetary System in the 1980s. The editor's comprehensive introduction surveys the literature and indicates key themes and trends in the two-volume set. Contributors include: J. Bradley, T.K. Daniel, R.C. Geary, J.M. Keynes, J. Lee, J.W. O'Hagan, K. O'Rourke, B.M. Walsh and R.B. Weir.
This book provides a cogent summary of the economic history of the Irish Free State/Republic of Ireland. It takes the Irish story from the 1920s right through to the present, providing an excellent case study of one of many European states which obtained independence during and after the First World War. The book covers the transition to protectionism and import substitution between the 1930s and the 1950s and the second major transition to trade liberalisation from the 1960s. In a wider European context, the Irish experience since EEC entry in 1973 was the most extreme European example of the achievement of industrialisation through foreign direct investment. The eager adoption of successive governments in recent decades of a neo-liberal economic model, more particularly de-regulation in banking and construction, has recently led the Republic of Ireland to the most extreme economic crash of any western society since the Great Depression.
This book is the first quantitative description of Europe’s economic development at a regional level over the entire twentieth century. Based on a new and comprehensive set of data, it brings together a group of leading economic historians in order to describe and analyze the development of European regions, both for nation states and for Europe as a whole. This provides a new transnational perspective on Europe’s quantitative development, offering for the first time a systematic long-run analysis of national policies independent from the use of national statistical units. The new transnational dimension of data allows for the analysis of national policies in a more thorough way than ever before. The book provides a comprehensive database at the level of modern NUTS 2 regions for the period 1900–2010 in 10-year intervals, and a panoramic view of economic development both below and above the national level. It will be of great interest to economic historians, economic geographers, development economists and those with an interest in economic growth.
This book offers a discerning narrative on the spectacular rise and fall of the so-called Celtic Tiger economy. It depicts Ireland as a micro-state with a unique reliance on foreign-assisted businesses, driven in part by a favourable taxation regime. It shows that rent-seeking by trades unions and property developers contributed to the fall since 2002. Although the country’s highly centralized government’s pre-disposition to lobbying has yielded international successes, it has also resulted in recurring self-inflicted crises since 1970. This volume shows how Ireland’s export-led growth is associated more with the attraction of foreign-assisted businesses than with the development of critical masses of internationally competitive indigenous businesses. Although the success of foreign-assisted businesses in the pharmaceutical, ICT and finance sectors has been influenced by tax advantages, many of these businesses have been involved in highly productive activity in Ireland over a number of decades. The problem of rent-seeking is shown to have undermined Irish competitiveness in the internationally traded and sheltered sectors. The Irish policy mind-set is shown to lean towards distribution rather than growth. While this has been advantageous for how ‘Ireland Inc.’ interacts with other governments and international businesses, it has also resulted in a failure to resist the destructive effects of capture by lobbies. In conclusion, this book considers future opportunities offered by the EU’s smart-specialization policy and future threats from increased international tax competition. It argues that unless Irish citizens and policymakers change deep-seated attitudes and mind-sets towards business development, the country’s performance for the next number of decades will more likely resemble serial under-achievement than that of a high-performing EU state.
This book adopts a revisionist perspective on the European economy, addressing the lack of coherent study of the agricultural sector and reassessing old theories about the links between agricultural and economic development.
This book examines in-depth what is perhaps the test case for globalization: the Irish Republic. Not only is Ireland hailed as the most globalized economy in the world, but its transformation into the Celtic Tiger in the 1990s is seen to demonstrate how nations can flourish in the new global economy. By implication, if other countries are to emulate Ireland's success they too must submit to the exogenous forces of globalization.
Most Irish historians agree that the southern Irish economy performed very badly between 1920 and the early 1960s. This volume critically compares new data for a fresh perspective. While providing a comprehensive narrative for a specialist audience, it also addresses those aspects of the record that are of interest to general readers. 25 illustrations.
