AN EXPENDITURE ESTIMATE OF IRISH GDP (AT MARKET PRICES) IN 1907. ESRI Working Paper No. 64, October 1995

Bielenberg, Andy and O'Mahony, Patrick (1995) AN EXPENDITURE ESTIMATE OF IRISH GDP (AT MARKET PRICES) IN 1907. ESRI Working Paper No. 64, October 1995. [Working Paper]

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Abstract

This article fundamentally challenges the notion that Ireland was a peripheral or underdeveloped economy relative to other European economies at the beginning of this century. Through an empirical investigation of consumer expenditure in Ireland in 1907, a new estimate of Irish GDP has been generated which is compatible with Feinstein's consumer expenditure estimates for the UK. From this it is possible to estimate Ireland's GDP per capita in 1907, and compare Ireland's relative level of per capita income to that of the UK; it is then possible to place Ireland in Maddison's league table for a number of advanced capitalist economies. This clearly places Ireland among the more advanced economies in the world. The article concludes that Ireland's improving relative position between 1850 and 1907 was achieved by favourable trade conditions and a growth in trade, a growth in productivity, an a-typical fall in population, and wage convergence with the UK and the USA. The conclusion suggests that free trade and Ireland's close trading relationship with the UK, had brought significant benefits to the Irish economy between.1850 and 1907.

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