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Large-scale mortality shocks and the Great Irish Famine 1845-1852

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  • Curran, Declan
  • Fröling, Maria

Abstract

This paper considers the consequences of a large scale mortality shock arising from a famine or epidemic for long run economic and demographic development. The Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852 is taken as a case-study and is incorporated as an exogenous mortality shock into the type of long-run unified growth theory pioneered by Galor and Weil (1999, 2000), and modelled by Lagerlöf (2003a,b) among others. Through calibration, the impact of such a mortality shock occurring on the cusp of a country's transition from a Malthusian to a Modern Growth regime is then depicted.

Suggested Citation

  • Curran, Declan & Fröling, Maria, 2010. "Large-scale mortality shocks and the Great Irish Famine 1845-1852," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1302-1314, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:27:y:2010:i:5:p:1302-1314
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