Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/189681 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
QUCEH Working Paper Series No. 2018-13
Publisher: 
Queen's University Centre for Economic History (QUCEH), Belfast
Abstract: 
The link between demographic pressure and economic conditions in pre-Famine Ireland has long interested economists. This paper re-visits the topic, harnessing the highly disaggregated parish-level data from the 1841 Census of Ireland. Using population per value adjusted acre as a measure of population pressure, our results indicate that on the eve of the Great Famine of 1846{50, population pressure was positively associated with both illiteracy rates and the prevalence of poor quality housing. But while our analysis shows that population pressure was one of the primary factors underpinning pre-Famine poverty, it also highlights the importance of geography and human agency. A counterfactual computation indicates that had Ireland's population stayed at its 1800 level, this would have led to only modest improvements in literacy and housing.
Subjects: 
Famine
Malthus
Population
Ireland
JEL: 
N33
B30
J11
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.