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“Insufficient for the Support of a Family” - Wages on the Public Works During the Great Irish Famine

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  • Pat McGregor

    (University of Ulster)

Abstract

This paper presents a model of the money wage paid on the public works during the Irish Famine. The administrators are assumed to minimise a cost function that includes the divergence from the target as well as the increase compared to the wage that current information is available on. Estimation reveals a lag of four weeks existed between price changes occurring and adjustment to the money wages. Most seriously, the administrators systematically failed to take full account of the extent of price changes.

Suggested Citation

  • Pat McGregor, 2004. "“Insufficient for the Support of a Family” - Wages on the Public Works During the Great Irish Famine," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 35(2), pages 219-239.
    • Handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:35:y:2004:i:2:p:219-239
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    File URL: http://www.esr.ie/Vol%2035%202/Vol35_2McGregor.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Coate, Stephen, 1989. "Cash versus direct food relief," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 199-224, April.
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    3. Phelim Boyle & Cormac Grádo, 1986. "Fertility trends, excess mortality, and the Great Irish Famine," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 23(4), pages 543-562, November.
    4. Alogoskoufis, George & Smith, Ron, 1991. "On Error Correction Models: Specification, Interpretation, Estimation," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 97-128.
    5. McGregor, Pat, 1998. "Famine: A Simple General Equilibrium Model," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(4), pages 623-643, October.
    6. Oughton, Elizabeth, 1982. "The Maharashtra Droughts of 1970-73: An Analysis of Scarcity," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 44(3), pages 169-197, August.
    7. Pagan, Adrian, 1985. "Time Series Behaviour and Dynamic Specification," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 47(3), pages 199-211, August.
    8. Cormac Ó Gráda, 1995. "The great Irish famine," Open Access publications 10197/363, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2007. "Making Famine History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(1), pages 5-38, March.

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