This year, the NERI was delighted to host Professor Emeritus of Economics Cormac Ó Gráda for our 8th Annual NERI Dónal Nevin Lecture in our biggest event yet. His lecture “The Irish Economy After A Century” offered a long view of economic development on the island of Ireland.
Professor Ó Gráda offered a rich, empirically grounded perspective on economic experience on the island since the founding of the free state. A particularly compelling element of the lecture was the demonstration that the Republic of Ireland’s ascension to relatively typical development levels by European–GDP overstatement not withstanding - did not follow a steady path.
While in recent years, the Republic has reached expected levels given its pre-independence income, the country was a relative underperformer in European terms through much of the 20th Century. This is especially surprising given the expectation that a relatively poor economy like the Republic of Ireland could be expected to grow more rapidly than other wealthy states as it converges on their levels of development. This included comparatively poor performance relative to Northern Ireland, though this relationship has been turned on its head in recent decades.
The Republic’s “lost decades” demonstrate the dangers – and damage in human terms – of poor policy and short-termism. As we face significant challenges from an ever-changing global context, the long view perspectives of economic history such as that provided by Professor Ó Gráda represent valuable resources from which we can draw lessons.
As Mark Twain is often alleged to have observed “history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes”. Let that be more true of the external challenges we face, rather than our responses to them.
You can watch Professor Ó Gráda delivering the 8th Annual NERI Dónal Nevin Lecture here, and his slides are accessible on our website.