Invited Lecture - HES Annual Meeting Duke University, May 23-26, 1982 Political Economy and the Irish

Abstract

According to Professor J. K. Galbraith "all races have produced notable economists with the exception of the Irish who can doubtless protest their devotion to higher arts" (Galbraith (1977) p. 13). More to the point than such a protest might be the comment of one modern Irish historian that "Ireland suffered severely from the consequences of the touching faith of educated opinion... in the power of abstract economic theory" (Lee (1973) p. 22). In other words if asked what have the Irish done for political economy? the Irish could well reply, what has political economy done for the Irish?